


to whom it may concern

by buckybear (eds_spagheds)



Series: to whom it may concern [1]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Avengers Family, Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie) Compliant, Domestic Avengers, First Kiss, Fluff and Hurt/Comfort, Harley Keener & Peter Parker Friendship, Harley Keener is an adorable southern belle, Hurt No Comfort, Long-Distance Friendship, Long-Distance Relationship, Love Letters, M/M, Minor Character(s), Minor Pepper Potts/Tony Stark, Not Avengers: Endgame (Movie) Compliant, Pen Pals, Precious Peter Parker, Sad Ending, Slow Burn, Tony Stark Acting as Peter Parker's Parental Figure, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, also, harley rides a motorcycle because i want him to, soft iron fam content folks
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-20
Updated: 2019-07-28
Packaged: 2020-03-08 18:15:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 22
Words: 28,756
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18900004
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/eds_spagheds/pseuds/buckybear
Summary: a parkner pen pal au(no endgame spoilers, i'm just gonna pretend it never happened)





	1. to whom it may concern / to you I am concerned

**Author's Note:**

> to whom it may concern / to you I am concerned

To whom it may concern,

 

Does that apply to this situation? I don’t know if anyone even says that anymore, but my teacher wouldn’t say what our pen pal’s name would be so I guess that’s what I’m going with.

I’m Peter by the way. I’m a sophomore so I’m sixteen. I’m not sure if we’re being assigned people our same age, but how old are you? I'm not sure how much your teacher is telling you guys about us, but I live in Queens, NY. I go to the Midtown School of Science and Tech, but I'm sure they at least told you that much. 

I don’t really know what else to say, this is really awkward. I guess...what’s your favorite color? Mine’s blue, but only bright blue, not pastel or navy. Do you have a favorite subject at your school? I like science, but we have a robotics elective that’s totally my favorite if it counts as a real class. Do you guys have classes like that in Tennessee?

I guess I don’t really know much about Tennessee other than my English teacher used to teach at your school and that’s why we’re even doing this. Maybe you could tell me your favorite things about your town? If you want, I’ll tell you about all my favorite spots in Queens!

Anyway, I guess I’ll leave it at that for now. I hope I hear back from you soon, but I have literally no idea how long it takes to send a letter, so hopefully you haven’t, like, graduated by the time you get this. Sorry if this was dumb, but I can’t wait to hear back!

 

Sincerely, Peter Parker

* * *

To you I am concerned.

 

See what I did there? I was pretty proud of that if I’m being honest.

Anyway, it was pretty cool to get your letter, dude! My name’s Harley Keener, I’m a junior, but I’m a bit young for my class and I haven’t turned seventeen yet so I guess we’re the same age.

I wasn’t kidding about being concerned, though. You literally sound so anxious even on paper. You okay dude? I swear, I’m not going to judge you on how you try to make conversation with someone who, A: isn’t there, and B: you don’t even know the name of.

But for starters, my favorite color is red. Just red, I’m not really picky on the shade. And also I’m sooo jealous you have a robotics class! My school is really small so we don’t have much in terms of electives besides art, which I am absolute shit at, I’ll have you know. Like we don’t even have music, it’s a tragedy. If only they knew how I killed it with my guitar, they start up a whole program.

Oh and I love math. I think I’m the only person at my entire school who does though, so I would _kill_ to go to a school like yours.

I’ll get to work on giving you a tour of Rose Hill as soon as I can get some pictures developed. If I’m gonna do it, I’m gonna do it right. And please do tell me about New York. I love Tennessee but I’ve always wanted to visit a big city.

Also, you dork, letters take like a week maximum to arrive, haven’t you ever gotten a birthday card in the mail from your grandparents or something?

But yeah, see you around Parker. I’ll drop my email on the back of this so you can get a more immediate response if you’re really that eager.

 

-Harley Keener

 


	2. okay, you dick / my dearest peter

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> peter is a rambling mess and harley is already crushing

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> there's going to be a bit of strong language from here on out btw, so if you're not cool with that, you might want to not read, sorry lol

Okay, you dick.

I’m just trying to be polite, don’t come for me.

But hi Harley! It’s really great to finally know your name! I’ve been talking about you to my aunt ever since I sent your letter, but it’s been weird just calling you “the pen pal guy”. And Harley’s a pretty cool name, even if I can’t help but picture you riding a motorcycle at all times. And no, I haven't gotten a letter or birthday card or anything in a long time, but that's just because I don't really have any extended family, so it's all new to me. 

Also, maybe I have been stressing a lot about stuff and maybe it all came out during this letter, but I just started the school year and my four AP classes are already kicking my ass, so I feel like it’s valid for me to be stressed. I promise I’ll try to chill out a bit though. I could really use a distraction right now so writing these letters is really nice.

Oh and wow you live in a place called Rose Hill? Dude that sounds so pretty, I’m already jealous. I'm just picturing you riding a horse with a rose in your mouth but the horse also has a rose in its mouth and now it's creeping me out. All of New York is basically a giant dumpster fire, but it’s home I guess. Also, since you added your email, I started working on a little video showing you all my favorite things around Queens! I’ll add mine in at the bottom too. I have literally so many questions, but I’ll try to keep it to a reasonable amount so it’s not too creepy.

Do you prefer Star Wars or Star Trek? This is very important to me so if you respond and ever get a letter back, it’s because you’re wrong and you might want to rethink your life. Also, do you have a favorite band? I’m an intern for this guy who thinks the only good music in the world is Black Sabbath so it’d be nice to get some legitimate recommendations.

I guess I’ll leave it at that for now. I’m already excited for your next letter, but if you have the nerve to answer that Star Wars vs. Star Trek question wrong, things are going to change.

 

-Peter Parker:)

 

* * *

My Dearest Peter,

 

Star Trek is absolutely better and I’m willing to bet you think the opposite, but I got your little video tour last night and I’m willing to let it slide since you’re cute. Seriously, your favorite places in Queens are a deli across the street from your apartment, a dog park that’s literally the size of my kitchen, and a bookstore that has a pug and by the looks of it, also asbestos? You’re a dork, Parker. Still, if I ever make it out to NYC one day, I’ll have to have you take me on the grand tour.

Also, I might have you set me up an interview with your boss because Black Sabbath is a great band and he’s clearly just trying to teach you the way the real world works. In all honesty, I love all kinds of music, but I don’t really know what kinds of music you like so if you want to follow me on Spotify or something, I’ll get a vibe of what you like and I’ll make you a playlist or something.

It’s cool that you’re close with your aunt. I only have an uncle, but he lives in California with his family so I don’t see him much. My mom and my little sister are cool though. You’d probably like Abbie, she’s a huge nerd like you, from the looks of it. A huge Star Wars fan and she loves biology.

I meant to ask in my last letter, but do you have any pets of your own? You know, other than the bookstore pug that I’m sure you’ve tried to steal at least a few times. I’m trying to get my ma’ to let Abbie and I adopt this big German shepherd from the animal shelter in town but she’s not convinced and I could use some good dog content in my life during this trying time.

I stuck some pictures I took in the envelope with this letter. They’re not great, I’m no photographer, but they get the job done. I’ll try to put together a video like yours soon so you can see my ugly mug. It’s only fair after all. 

 

-H

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thanks for sticking around y'all:)
> 
> once again, if you have any suggestions or ideas of things you want to happen later on in this fic, feel free to let me know, i'm always looking for prompts and stuff
> 
> xoxo


	3. heya harls / hey pete

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> peter tells harley about his family & harley has a surprise for peter

Heya Harls,

 

So I know we emailed a bunch after I got your last letter, but I feel like sending these is more special. I’ll have you know that picture of you on your bike is now tucked in the front of the binder where I keep all these letters. Hopefully that’s not creepy, but then again, I have no idea what you did with the pictures I sent you.

By the way, I hope you know how lucky you are. Seriously, I’ve never let myself be friends with someone who preferred Star Trek over Star Wars, but like you, I’m going to decide that I can look past that. And I could definitely take you in a fight, you have no idea. The good news for you is that I would rather not beat you up because I happen to quite like you. Don’t go messing that up by saying Captain America is better than Iron Man or something like that.

I would literally never forgive you.

Also, I’ve started volunteering on the weekends at this animal shelter next to the hospital my aunt works at and OH MY GOD there are so many dogs, it’s basically my dream come true. You should come to New York just to come visit these dogs honestly.

And about my aunt, this might be oversharing a bit, but I actually like with her. My parents died when I was four and she and my uncle took me in after that. Uncle Ben passed away last year, so it’s just my aunt May and I. Sorry, I know that was a lot, but you should at least know what you’re getting yourself into. Like I said, my aunt is a nurse so she works really long hours all the time to support us since New York is hella expensive and she never really planned on having kids before she took me in, so it gets rough around here in the Parker house a lot. My boss, the guy I intern for, he's great though. I stay with him sometimes when my aunt has really long shifts, which is better than being alone. So if I'm ever late on delivery day, just know that's probably why. Sometimes it's just too much.

I know it’s a lot of baggage so I don’t blame you if you don’t want to get involved. Trust me, I’ve got good people in my life so if you’re freaked out, it’s not a big deal.

But if not, I do really like talking to you. Like every time I get a letter from you, I basically don’t stop smiling all day, so thank you. You’re good people, Harley Keener.

 

Thanks for everything,

Peter

* * *

Hey Pete,

 

I’m gonna keep this short because I’m working on something special to send with your letter and I only have time to go to the post office before school in the morning and it’s currently 3:00 A.M. so hopefully I can get this all done in time.

I don’t think there’s much you could say or do to make me stop writing to you.

I mean, if you asked me to stop, I would stop, but if you still wanted to keep this up, I would keep going forever. Seriously, dude, I’m not leaving you.

You deserve to have as many people as possible in your life that care about you. I would like to be one of those people if it’s alright with you.

Yeah, I may be over 600 miles away, but I promise you that any time you need me, I’m just a phone call away. My number is at the bottom and I really hope you’ll use it.

Also, when you see what’s in the box, squeeze its left hand;)

 

-H

 

P.S. I can’t believe you would even consider the idea that I would pick Captain America over Iron Man when clearly, Tony Stark is the coolest human being to have ever lived. Trust me, I have proof.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> wow people are actually reading this???  
> im so shook, i never thought people would actually like this wowowow
> 
> the next chapter is going to be in a little bit of a different format, along with a few more future chapters, just so y'all can get more of the story from emails, texts, phone calls, and just general narration
> 
> thank you in advance for all your lovely messages:)


	4. a surprise & a reminder

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> (different format)
> 
> peter gets a little surprise from harley

Peter couldn’t stop grinning when he came home from school. May had texted him only a few hours after he had left that a package with his name on it would be sitting on his bed when he got home and he had barely been able to think of anything else since. Ned and MJ had been teasing him about it since third period, but he refused to let anything put a damper on his mood. Besides, they got just as excited about their pen pals. Ned had instantly started geeking out when he found out his pen pal also loved Star Wars (Peter was only a little jealous) and that he was going to save up to go to New York Comic Con where the two were planning on cosplaying as Finn and Poe together. MJ had refused to tell her friends anything about her pen pal other than her name; Jaclyn, and that she sent her a few of her favorite books, which MJ immediately began reading the next day.

Flash had teased him about it when he caught Peter reading one of Harley’s newest emails on his phone while walking through the hallway and had mocked him relentlessly about his “boyfriend” sending him “love letters”. It probably didn’t help when Peter was too mortified to deny anything.

Either way, he practically ran home once he got off the subway after school. Just like May had promised, there was a messily-sealed box sitting right on top of his bed when he went inside and he read his name written across the label with a huge grin.

“Harley Keener, you little minx,” he mumbled to himself as he lifted the large box, only to feel that it barely held any weight at all. He used his web shooters to sling over a pair of scissors from across the room on his desk before carefully cutting through the many layers of tape.

As it turned out, Harley really didn’t hold back with sealing the box as Peter was met with a seemingly endless sea of bubble wrap and packing peanuts.

“Jesus...,” he muttered, an exasperated smile on his face as he proceeded to scoop out dozens of styrofoam packing peanuts out of the box and onto the bed and floor around him.

When he finally uncovered a moderately-sized bundle of bubble wrap, he grabbed the loose end and let it unroll into his lap.

He could only stare as the plush bear fell into his lap. His smile was completely unconscious as he gingerly picked up the bear, noticing the envelope tied around its left hand. As soon as he noticed the tiny shirt the bear wore with a distressed version of the Harley Davidson logo, he couldn’t help but chuckle.

He carefully unfolded the letter from the envelope, folding his legs in front of him as he held the bear in his lap.

* * *

P,

 

This might seem really dumb and I definitely don’t blame you if you’re wondering why _I_ , a sixteen-year-old dude, sent _you_ , also a sixteen-year-old dude, a teddy bear.

I just couldn’t stop thinking about what you said in your last letter. I really wanted to say something over email, but I figured it would be best if we kept it in the letters. More personal that way.

Anyway, this is the teddy bear Abbie got me as a joke from the hospital gift shop when I broke my wrist last year. I kept it and (you better not rat me out for this) I slept with it every night since.

Also, I tried to do laundry a few months back and accidentally shrunk one of her shirts and it just so happened to fit on the bear, so there you have it. And then the button on the hand.

I tried to sew a little patch onto it, but it really looked like shit and I couldn’t get it off, so just pretend it’s not there, I guess. Still, if you squeeze it, it’ll play a little ditty I recorded for you. I made the speaker thing inside myself so hopefully it works.

So yeah. I really hope you like it. I just don’t ever want you to feel like you’re alone. If things ever feel like it’s too much, just squeeze the ugly fucking patch on the bear’s hand and I’m there with you. You’ll always have me in your corner, even 600 miles away.

 

-H

* * *

Peter was honestly worried he might start crying. He folded up the letter and slid it back into the envelope just in case.

His fingers curled into the plush fabric of the bear and traced gently over the worn Harley Davidson logo on its shirt. He chuckled lightly at the messily-sewn smiley face patch on the bear’s paw before squeezing it, feeling himself press a button within the stuffing.

Quiet music began to play from the device that Harley had seemingly configured inside the bear and Peter immediately hugged it to his chest, listening closely as the gentle guitar strings vibrated against his body.

Harley played him a song. Harley played a song and recorded it just for him. _Harley_ _played ‘Here Comes the Sun’ and recorded it inside a teddy bear and mailed it across the country for him._

May smiled nearly as much as Peter did when her nephew showed her the gift his new friend had sent him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> do y'all like where this is going so far?? i really just want to get them together like right now, but i think it'll be a few more chapters at least so sorry in advance for the wait lol
> 
> thank you guys for all the kind words in the comments so far:)


	5. harls / peter:)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> another day, another format
> 
> (peter texts harley and harley finds out a big ole secret)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> don’t worry, they’re still going to keep writing letters, but realistically as someone who has had a pen pal for a little over a year, it’s so much easier to just text lol

Unknown Number: harley?

Unknown Number: it’s peter:)

 

Harley’s phone vibrated twice in his pocket as he tinkered away at the latest model of his infamous potato gun. He spun away from his work station in his desk chair, pausing the loud rock music that was blaring through his headphones as he checked his texts.

His face instantly lit up as he read the messages and he quickly made Peter’s phone number into a new contact.

 

Harls: hey!

Harls: I guess this means you got the bear?

 

He rolled his chair around the room as he watched Peter type out a response.

 

Peter:): oh my god harley are too much

Peter:): in literally the best way

Peter:): but w o w

 

He couldn’t stop grinning at the other boy’s words. He could even hear Peter’s voice in his head reading them aloud. At that point, he had watched the tour of Queens that Peter had made for him so many times that he had practically memorized the other boy.

And also definitely fallen just a little bit in love with him.

Just a little bit.

It had only been a little over a month and he had literally never felt the same way about anyone in his life.

He was a little bit in love with a boy over six hundred miles away. Just his luck.

 

Harls: oh right that reminds me

 

Harley quickly opened Spotify, copying the link to his newest playlist.

 

for peter.

 

A collection of song recommendations, just like he promised. Still, if they were less of recommendations and more like songs that made him wish Peter was there in Rose Hill with him, then Peter didn’t need to know that yet.

 

Harls: i promised you some song recommendations

Harls: and i never forget a promise

Harls: especially not when i get to flex my amazing music taste

Harls: so here

Harls:https://open.spotify.com/user/ellery125/playlist/2Y7WhO7CEuabYxui7KXWUH?si=SRbXLnqnRVShRVDI3TwmWw

 

He couldn’t help holding his breath as he pasted the link into the message box and hit send. He didn’t exhale until the dots indicating Peter was typing were gone.

 

Peter:): harley i swear to god

Peter:): i’m actually going to cry in front of my boss

Peter:): you dick

Peter:): why are you the absolute greatest

 

Harley laid in bed, the open window beside his bed was sending a chill down his spine that definitely wasn’t from talking to Peter, but he could pretend. He glanced over at his nightstand at the picture he had replaced the picture of him and his dad with. He’d been meaning to get any last trace of his dad out of the house for a while.

Replacing his dad’s traitorous face with Peter’s sweet smiling one was an easy trade off.

He’d take Peter grinning with a decathlon trophy in his hands over his dad sitting with him in his lap at eight years old with a collection of beer bottles on the table beside him.

 

Harls: it’s the least i can do

Harls: peter, i’m in this for the long run if you’ll have me

Harls: just squeeze that shitty bear if you ever forget it

 

Peter:): it’s not shitty!!!

Peter:): it’s literally the cutest thing i’ve ever seen

 

Harls: well you’re biased

Harls: but fine you win

 

Harley clicked off his bedside lamp and let himself relax into the sound of cicadas outside his bedroom window. He tried to think of Peter listening to the sound of cars honking and construction as he tried to sleep and he made a plan to make it out to New York one day. Hopefully sooner rather than later.

 

Peter:): ugh my boss won’t stop bullying me pls help

Peter:): he’s calling you my boyfriend oh my GOD

Peter:): if you see a news report saying tony stark was brutally strangled, don’t rat me out

 

Harley blinked, rereading Peter’s last text multiple times until he was completely sure that it did if fact say what he thought it said.

 

Harls: hold on

Harls: your BOSS

Harls: is TONY FUCKING STARK

 

He couldn’t believe it.

There was no way. The chances of both of them knowing the most eccentric billionaire superhero in the world? Two random sixteen-year-olds in two different parts of the country being friends with Tony Stark? Literally impossible.

 

Peter:): don’t let him know you’re a fan, it’ll go straight to his head

Peter:): but yeah, I’m his personal intern lol

 

Harley thought he might scream.

 

Harls: pete you gotta tell him who I am

Harls: don’t ask why, just tell him my name

Harls: it’s gonna blow his mind

 

He waited as the typing dots appeared and promptly disappeared.

 

Holy shit.

 

And then his phone lit up with a request for a video chat. Perfect.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> merci à tous pour la lecture!
> 
> the next chapter will be (possibly) the last one without the letter format until the very last chapter, so we’ll get back into the pen pal style soon:)
> 
> I can’t wait to hear what you guys think of this so if you have any predictions for what will happen next, I would love to hear them in the comments!!!
> 
> ALSO!!! the spotify playlist link is real and i made a super cute playlist for it if y'all want to check it out! :)
> 
> <3


	6. a reunion / a confession

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> tony (virtually) reunites with harley and notices something different about peter

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry this chapter was later than I expected:( I had prom yesterday and a concert on friday so I didn’t have as much time as I wanted to write this. 
> 
> either way, I really like how this chapter turned out and I’m super excited for what is coming soon in this fic!!

“Pete, there’s no way,” Tony sighed, slightly exasperated at the kid who, despite all his protests, insisted that the little Harley Keener that he met all those years ago was Peter’s pen pal. “There are billions of people on this planet and I really only know a handful of teenagers. The odds are like a hundred million to one.”

Peter spun around in his swivel chair, safety goggles on his eyes as he held a screwdriver in one hand, his phone in the other.

“Yeah, but his name is _Harley_ _Keener_! The odds of finding two kids named Harley Keener that are the same age in the same town are even slimmer!” Peter refuted. “Besides, he totally reacted like he would’ve if he knew you.”

“Fine, video call him then,” Tony instructed, leaning his head into one hand.

Peter stared at him like he was crazy but eventually shrugged and pressed the call button.

As his phone rang, Peter felt the knot in his stomach tighten. They had never actually spoken face to face. Well, face to screen to face, but still.

“Peter?” Harley’s voice shocked him out of his panic and he immediately felt himself brighten as the other boy’s face lit up the screen. It was clearly dark and Peter quickly checked the time on the clock.

“Oh my god it’s two in the morning, I’m so sorry,” he wilted, laughing nervously as he buried his face in one hand. Thankfully Harley laughed and he relaxed a little bit.

“So you’re Harley?” Tony spoke up, knowing that the kid would know who he was even if he wasn’t on the screen.

“And you must be the mechanic,” Harley chided, a sly smile on his face.

Peter watched Tony falter a little, realization flooding his face.

“Holy shit, it is you,” he admitted, Peter smirking at his mentor. “FRIDAY, can you project the kid’s phone screen?”

“Certainly, sir,” the AI answered from the ceiling.

“FRIDAY? What happened to JARVIS?” Harley asked.

Peter rambled through the entire ordeal with Vision and Ultron and Sokovia, at least from what Tony had told him, and the latter watched on, glancing over every once in a while to marvel at the sight of the two kids interacting.

“You ever been to New York, Keener?” Harley spoke up, Peter and digital-Harley both looking at him with startled expressions.

“No…” Harley answered, glancing back and forth between Peter and Harley.

“You want to?”

There was a small bout of silence as Harley did nothing but blink and gape at Tony Stark, personally inviting him to New York.

“Yes! Yeah, of course! I’ve…I’ve always wanted to see New York,” Harley grinned, more awake than he had been all night. From the looks of them, he was pretty sure Peter and Tony had no idea it was almost two in the morning. “Are you being serious? Because if you’re joking, I’ve been holding a favor over your head ever since I saved your ass all those years ago.”

Peter turned to gape at Tony and Harley realized that, while Peter now knew he and Tony had met, he never knew _why_.

“Wait a minute, Mr. Stark I thought you said you met Harley when he was like ten?” Peter asked coyly, already knowing exactly what he was asking.

“Your point is..?” Tony challenged him, raising one eyebrow.

“A _ten_ - _year_ - _old_ , and I quote, _saved_ _your_ _ass_?” Peter teased as Tony flicked something at him that looked a lot like glue.

“Ew, what the hell was that?” Harley laughed through the holographic screen. Peter seemed to visibly tense up, looking to Tony like he was asking for help.

“Oh, we’re working on some new web shooters for Spider-Man,” Tony answered as if it was nothing. Peter made a sound akin to a squeak.

“Are you kidding! Dude, I love Spider-Man! That’s awesome!” Harley gushed, sifting up in bed with his blanket pulled around him. “Peter, do you seriously get to work on stuff for Spider-Man?”

Harley was far too tired to see the raging blush that spread across Peter’s face on his tiny phone screen.

“Y-yeah,” he answered awkwardly, mentally trying to decide if he should just tell Harley he was Spider-Man or leave it for another time. “Yeah, we usually work on weapons and armor and stuff like that. Sometimes Mr. Stark’ll even let me work on his suits.”

It wasn’t a lie, exactly. All of the things he said were true, but out of all the days they spent during Peter’s “internship”, they really only worked in the labs once or twice a week. It would probably be safer for all of them if Harley just didn’t know about Peter being Spider-Man yet. He would tell him eventually.

“That’s so sick, dude!” Harley spoke in awe, pausing to yawn afterwards.

“FRIDAY, what time is it in Rose Hill?” Tony asked the AI, already dreading the response.

“It is currently fifteen minutes to two o’clock in the morning, sir.”

“Oh god,” Tony face-palmed, the boy on screen laughing tiredly at his frustration. “Come on Parker, you’re supposed to be the responsible one here.”

Peter rolled his eyes, packing up his school work off the lab desk and stuffing it into his backpack.

“I’m literally a child, Mr. Stark.”

“So now you’re a child? Because I distinctly remember you being ‘almost an adult’ that time you convinced me to let you use the lab unsupervised and you tried shooting one of Barton’s new taser arrows and you short circuited the entire tower,” Tony countered, helping the boy pack up his things.

“That was one time,” Peter chuckled, picking up a pair of discarded sneakers covered in drawings and holes and putting them on. “Besides Mr. Barton said he would teach me how to shoot for real the next time he came to visit so I won’t hit the circuit breaker again!” Peter’s attempt to defend himself was weak at best, but Harley still found the energy to smile.

“Well I’m that case, I’m gonna’ hit the sack,” Harley spoke through a yawn. “Bye Peter. See you ‘round Tony.”

Peter waved at him quickly before the boy hung up and the two superheroes were left in silence.

“You like him, don’t you?” Tony asked, a knowing smirk on his face. Peter’s cheeks turned bright red instantly.

“W-well, yeah. He’s my friend,” he dodged, not very effectively.

“Nice try, Pete,” Tony chuckled, ruffling the kid’s hair as they turned off the lights to the lab and headed for both Tony and Pepper’s bedroom and the one Tony had set up for when Peter spent the night at the tower. “Get some sleep. I’ll talk to the kid about when he’s able to come visit. You might want to start planning your epic rom-com confession speech.”

“Shut up,” Peter mumbled, a raging blush covering his entire face, but with a smile to accompany it that told Tony that he was definitely right.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thanks so much for reading everyone!!!
> 
> seeing so many comments on the last chapter literally blew my mind and it makes me so happy that you guys like this fic as much as I do:)
> 
> I love all y’all so much <3


	7. hey harley / hey normal and sane peter

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> (two updates in one day??? who even am i)
> 
> peter is Excited and harley is Big Sad

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> somebody give harley a hug pls

Hey Harley,

 

Mr. Stark won’t stop asking me about you and it’s literally driving me insane. It feels so weird to keep talking about you without you knowing about it so at least you know now.

I can’t believe I might actually get to meet you in person. It’s surreal honestly.

I hope you’re excited too because I literally can’t stop thinking about it. Mr. Stark mentioned you guys were planning to fly out for a week during your week off for Thanksgiving and I really hope you can come that soon because that would be amazing.

But I would hate for you to miss Thanksgiving with your family. If you want, I’m sure we could work something out where they could all come! There’s a ton of spare bedrooms in Stark Tower, so that could probably work!

Or you could come stay with me and my aunt. Our apartment is really small, but if your family wanted to stay at the tower, you could come stay with Aunt May and I. If you wanted to. No pressure.

Or a hotel. If you don’t want to stay with either of us. Which is totally fine, by the way.

I’m probably thinking about this too much.

Anyway, now that you know about my internship and all that, I can totally spill some tea on all the Avengers so just say the word and I have plenty of blackmail. Or if you deal with the same shit at your school that I do at mine and have to deal with kids not believing that you actually know the people you know.

It’s actually so fun though and I can’t wait for you to visit so I can meet you and show you all the fun stuff we do and you can meet everybody and they’ll probably be obsessed with you too.

Either way, I’ve been annoying my aunt for days ever since that one video chat. She keeps joking that she knows you as well as I do, but I know she’s going to love you.

We should do that again sometime, by the way. The video chat. It was nice to talk face-to-face.

Also, guess who had four hrs of sleep and two cups of sugar with a lil coffee!!! I couldn’t really sleep after you called so now I can feel every cell in my body vibrating and life is good.

Hopefully you’re dealing with this like a normal, sane person.

 

-Peter

* * *

Hey Normal and Sane Peter,

 

I’ve been thinking about the trip so much that I literally wrote your name instead of mine on my Spanish homework so two can play at this game.

My little sister Abbie won’t stop teasing me about you either so you’re not alone in this one. But honestly it’s not that bad, I’m just excited as _fuck_.

As a kid I would always beg my parents to take me to New York City one day so I could see Stark Tower. It’s ironic now to think I actually might be able to make it happen now with the big man himself. In a way I kind of wish I could rub it in my parents’ faces.

I feel like I should tell you about what’s been going on the past couple weeks though. I really hate talking to Abbie about it because she just gets mad, but if you want to just ignore this part, that’s totally fine. I think I just need to vent and I don’t really have anyone else that will listen.

My dad came to visit last weekend. He and my mom actually went out the night you called and I was basically in my room trying not to cry myself to sleep and I can’t even explain to you how much I meant to get that distraction. My parents are back together apparently for the first time in like eight years and I think my dad is dragging my mom into all of his drug shit. She came home after that night with her eyes all red and her face all pale and I’ve been so mad ever since because she promised me she would stay out of it for Abbie’s sake, yet here she is. I just thought she would be the one to stick around.

I don’t know why I’m even bringing this up, but I guess I’m too lazy to erase it now or start over. We really are a tragic pair.

I think I might try to get legal guardianship over Abbie when I turn eighteen. Or maybe emancipate myself and do it even earlier.

This is ridiculous, I don’t even know what I’m talking about. It’s almost four in the morning and I can’t sleep because my parents have a bunch of people drinking in the living room and I really wish I was anywhere other than here right now.

When I see you, I’m gonna hug you so hard it’ll break all your bones. But out of love.

Honestly I’m having an emotional night and I probably shouldn’t even send this letter, but I trust you to not judge me for it so oh well. You’re my best friend, Peter Parker. I know we haven’t known each other for even two months, but you’re my best friend and I love you a lot.

 

-H

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oh god ok i really like this chapter especially considering what i'm planning for future chapters;)
> 
> (also i went to prom on saturday and my friend and her date literally had the cutest night and i'm going to write a peter and harley one-shot based on them so if it takes a few days for the next chapter, that's why lol)


	8. i'll hold you / never let you go

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> oh?? me getting impatient and wanting them to get together faster?? more likely than you might think
> 
> (this chapter is literally just pure hurt/comfort and it's soft as fuck)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey if you guys are liking this fic, it would really mean a lot if you checked out my new one-shot, "{insert cowboy emoji}"  
> I'm really proud of how it turned out considering I wrote it all in 24 hours lol and even though it doesn't follow this same universe, it's a really soft parkner fic that i think you guys would like if you like this!!  
> :)

Harley wasn’t expecting his phone to ring while he was at work. He _definitely_ wasn’t expecting for it to be Peter’s contact lighten up the screen.

He was laying under some car he was fixing up, typical for most afternoons after school, when he heard his phone start vibrating on top of his toolbox out from under the car. He wheeled himself out, subconsciously smiling when he saw Peter’s name on the screen. Without even thinking, he pressed ‘accept’.

“Harley?” Something sounded off in Peter’s voice and Harley’s stomach twisted into knots.

“Hey, you alright?” He asked, leaning back against the car.

“I just read your letter,” Peter spoke softly, almost like he was trying to hold back tears. Harley’s heart sank. He had been dreading the moment Peter read his letter from the moment he sent it.

“Peter, I’m so sorry. I knew it was too much, I totally shouldn’t have sent it. I was just venting and it was really late and-“

“Harley, you don’t have to apologize,” Peter interrupted, sounding even more choked up. Harley really hoped he hadn’t made the boy cry. He would probably never forgive himself. “It’s not your fault, not one bit. I’m so glad you sent me this, really. You can talk to me about anything. You don’t ever have to worry about me judging you for something like this, especially not after all the shit I dumped on you.” Harley felt his own eyes watering a little as he choked out laugh.

He wiped under his eyes, knowing there was motor oil on his hands and not really caring.

“What the hell did I ever do to deserve you,” he sighed, leaning his head against his hand. He wanted Peter there. He wanted him to be there with him so he could hug him and kiss him and show Peter exactly how much he meant to him.

Wait.

Fuck.

Peter didn’t say anything for a moment and Harley was instantly terrified that he had said that all out loud or something.

“Harley, you deserve the whole world,” Peter breathed, something magically unidentifiable in his voice that made Harley’s heart ache to hold something, _someone_ , he’d never held before. Like his soul missed something it’d never had before.

He sat there on the grime-covered floor of an auto body shop’s garage on Main Street in the shitty town of Rose Hill, Tennessee where everyone is unhappy and no one does anything about it. He sat there at four o’clock on a Thursday afternoon missing the boy on the other end of his phone call knowing there was nothing to miss, just something to dream about.

“I miss you,” he spoke softly, hoping Peter would understand what he meant. “It hurts like I miss you.”

Peter didn’t say anything for a few moments and Harley just leaned his head back against the side of the car, holding his phone to his chest.

“My heart holds you when my arms cannot,” Peter mumbled after a spell of comfortable silence. Harley felt his heart skip more than just a few beats.

“What?” He choked out, tears spilling out of the corners of his eyes.

“My heart holds you when my arms cannot,” Peter repeated with slightly more emphasis. “That’s what my aunt would always tell me when I was a kid after my parents died. She would say that they held me in their hearts when they couldn’t hold me in their arms. So that’s how I’ll hold you too.”

It wasn’t that he wasn’t expecting Peter to say that. No amount of preparation could’ve stopped his heart from aching the way it did, but he was caught off guard.

He was completely and utterly caught off guard because right in that moment he realized that Peter was probably nicer to him than anyone he’d ever met. He loved him.

But he also _loved_ him.

He _loved_ him.

He loved Peter Parker.

He was _in love_.

He was in love with a boy he’d never met.

He was in love with a boy that was randomly assigned to write to him for a class project.

He was _really_ in love with a boy named Peter Parker who had the purest, sweetest soul he’d ever encountered.

Peter Parker.

In _Queens_.

Fuck.

“I’ll hold you in mine too” he choked out, brushing the tears off of his cheeks. “Until I can hold you for real and never let you go.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oh god what have i done
> 
> I feel like zendaya watching endgame after knowing what happens in ffh  
> (literally this fic is gonna go wild fairly soon and none of y'all are ready)
> 
> thanks in advance for all of the comments and kudos!! i love that you guys are liking this:)


	9. peter! / hey

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> harley is so!!! excited!!!
> 
> peter's anxiety is just me projecting tbh

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oh, you thought this was going to be a cute and fluffy chapter?? lmao i have no capacity to write fluff during finals so y'all get this instead
> 
> sorry it's kind of short:( there's a chance I might have time to crank out another short one by the end of the day, but we'll see lol

Peter!

 

I’m sneakily writing this in my science class because I just got an email from Tony about the trip and I literally couldn’t wait to tell you.

Well, apparently I can wait as long as it’ll take for you to get this letter, but oh well. I like keeping the important things in letters. It’s more special.  
Besides, if someone finds all of these one day like hundreds of years from now, they deserve to have some context for what’s going on.

Actually, the human race will probably be extinct before that at this rate, but oh well.

I’M SO EXCITED NOT EVEN THE DESTRUCTION OF THE ENVIRONMENT CAN GET ME DOWN RIGHT NOW!!!

That’s bad actually, I probably shouldn’t say that. Oh well.

I’M GONNA SEE YOUR DUMB FACE!!!

I’m literally shaking. Tony is sending out a _private jet_ oh my god it’s going to be amazing. He said Abbie could come too and we could both stay at the tower and he told me not to tell you, but he was going to invite you and your aunt to stay with us!

I don’t know if Tony’s planning on scheduling anything for us to do, I’m sure if he doesn’t then Pepper will, but if it’s okay with you, I’d much rather just hang with you..? I just figured since we both don’t have school for the week and stuff, we could just do dumb touristy shit and go see all those things you showed told me about in your second letter.

Anyway, I should probably go before my teacher sees me writing this.

 

Love, Harley

* * *

Hey,

 

Your letter made me so happy I can’t even explain it. I literally carried it around all day when I got it just so I could read it over and over again.

That was actually a pretty dumb fucking idea though, I guess. I don’t know. It made me really happy for a while. You always make me happy. What’s new? Haha.

Hey, this is kinda random, but I just feel like I should tell you before you come all the way to New York. This is somehow harder than when I told people in person. Holy shit okay. 

I'm bisexual. 

I like girls and guys. 

I always have, I think. 

SO YEAH. That's it, I guess. I know you're from Tennessee and it's a red state and all that so I totally won't blame you if you're grossed out or whatever. If you're not okay with it, no hard feelings. I'm kinda used to it by now. 

I'm pretty sure I was never going to tell you, but I'm having a shitty day and I figured I might as well get all the homophobia out of the way before the end of the day. High school is shit, dude. I'm convinced it's actually the lowest level of Hell. Like I just wish I wasn't literally the  _only_ out kid in my entire year, you know? Bullies fucking suck. 

In other news, my aunt and I will definitely be there at the tower if you decide to still come to visit. And we can go anywhere you want. Hell, I'll show you the whole city.

I really wish I could tell you that this is the last of my surprises, but that would definitely be a lie. Some things just need to be said in person, I think.

For now, I'll just keep counting down the days until I can see your dumb face too.

Sorry,

Peter

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (explainer for this chapter) so I tried to leave it a little vague, but the idea behind peter's letter is that he was so happy about harley's letter that he carried it around with him all day so he could keep rereading it and flash found him and harassed him until he took the letter. i imagine peter was heartbroken because they had both been keeping collections of all of their letters, but flash is a dick so fuck him lol
> 
> it's going to get happier for a little while very soon, I promise:) I'm just stressed about the end of the school year and finishing final projects and stuff so this will probably be my last update until about midway through next week since i'm taking the ACT and studying and stuff this weekend rip me
> 
> the next (I think..3???) chapters are going to be harley's adventures in nyc so get hypeee! i'm planning everything out in outlines since I can't work on writing so i'm very excited about what's coming next for these boys
> 
> so yeah, this is goodbye for a little while!! i'll miss y'all but i'll be back soon!


	10. it's been a long, long time / the longest time

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> whoomp there it is
> 
>  
> 
> i got impatient

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> y'all are SO WELCOME
> 
>  
> 
> (also i had no idea what to title this chapter so i literally just picked a song from each my spotify playlists for this fic and went with that lol)  
> if you guys want to check them out, here's my peter one and my harley one:)
> 
> peter:https://open.spotify.com/user/ellery125/playlist/2Y7WhO7CEuabYxui7KXWUH?si=wLuMyD1ESviE97lvETxiQg  
> harley:https://open.spotify.com/user/ellery125/playlist/2pWReFzU0bA7P5FuO5e7Dk?si=9v1KsnBdSSaq0K8AYN1eSQ

At a quarter to ten o’clock at night, Peter’s phone rang. He was currently sitting on the fire escape of his building in his spider suit, but it didn’t take long for him to check the caller ID and swing himself up to the roof to take a break from scoping out the city.

“Harley?” He asked, knowing who had called him already. “That’s dumb, I know it’s you, but hey! What’s up?”

Harley barely hesitated a second before completely changing the subject.

“Can I tell you a story?”

Peter felt his brow furrow slightly at the strange question, but he folded his legs underneath him and made himself comfortable.

“Yeah, of course,” he answered, slightly nervous once he realized the date. Harley read his last letter.

“There was this kid,” he started, his voice thick and seemingly tired. “He was fresh out of seventh grade and his neighbor got him a summer internship working at the auto body shop in town just to pass the time. This kid…was quite a loser. No friends, a busy mom, a deadbeat dad, a little sister with more of a social life at seven than he would ever have. The usual.”

Peter chuckled a little, finding himself relaxing at the sound of Harley’s voice.

“Halfway through June he met someone. He met a boy just a year or so older, that was in town with his family for his parents’ business. And he stopped by the shop one day when the boy was working. They talked for ages until the boy asked him if he wanted to go to the movies together,” Harley sighed, Peter growing slightly uncomfortable with a feeling he couldn’t quite place. “They kissed in the back row of the theater watching a movie he couldn’t even remember the next day. The boy, a high school freshman from California, held his hand and walked him home and for the first time in his life, someone liked him.”

Harley made a sound that hurt Peter to his core and he wanted nothing more than to crawl through the screen and hug his friend.

“Apparently some other kids saw them together and kicked the shit out of him the next day. The boy never came back and the whole town new I was gay within the next few days,” Harley spoke, his voice close to a whisper. Peter couldn’t stop staring at the star-less sky. “I’ve never known anyone in this town to stick around as long as I have after coming out. I’ve never met another queer kid, Peter, you don’t even _know_ …” He trailed off. “You have _no idea_ how much that meant to me to hear you say that.”

At that Peter tugged back on his mask, pressing a button on his phone to patch the call through Karen so he could talk through the mask. He was done patrolling for the night, he needed to get home.

“Harley, I’m so sorry,” he spoke gently, swinging through the city along the fastest way he knew to get back to his apartment. “No one deserves that. _No one_.” He paused. “Least of all, you.”

He could hear Harley sniffling at the other end of the phone call and he wished he could be there to wipe the other boy’s tears.

“I’d never judge you for something like that,” Harley spoke, bringing a subconscious smile to Peter’s face. “Whatever the fucking kids at your school are saying, it’s not true. None of it.”

Peter bit his lip, swinging against the side of his building to crawl in through his bedroom window.

“Well, some of it is,” he spoke, regretting it instantly when he realized what he’d have to admit.

“Peter, please believe me. They’re wrong. Whatever it is, they’re all wrong.”

“No,” he refuted, going all or nothing and throwing caution to the wind. Fuck it. “No, he’s _not wrong_.”

 _“Peter, please_ ,” Harley cried, his voice breaking.

“He’s not wrong, okay! He…he said something that was _true_. I can’t-,” he cut himself off, breathing shakily as he grabbed Harley’s bear off his bed, holding it to his chest. “I can’t say it isn’t true when it’s _so true_.”

Harley didn’t answer for a moment and Peter was worried he had finally fucked up. If he hadn’t yet, he was about too.

“What?” Harley asked quietly, his voice sounding pained as if he really didn’t want to hear what Peter was about to say. “What could this kid possibly say about you that you would make you believe him over me?”

Peter held the bear to his chest, closed his eyes, and spoke before he could back out.

“That I liked you,” he breathed, his heart about to beat out of his chest. “That I had a crush on my fucking pen pal who lives halfway across the country and would never like me back.”

The silence that followed was so tense Peter thought he could cry just sitting there and waiting for the words that would shatter what was left of his slowly-mending heart.

“Oh,” Harley finally answered. Peter choked out a small sob. “Oh my god.”

He held his breath and tried to stop the tears from falling. Harley was freaked out. He hated it. He didn’t like Peter. How the hell could he ever like Peter? _How the hell could anyone-_

“Peter Parker,” Harley spoke as if he couldn’t believe it. “God fucking damn. You really- _oh my god_.”

Peter felt his breath catch in his throat. What? What the hell, there was no way, there was no-

“You better be there the second I get off that jet in New York because I am going to kiss the _shit_ out of your _dumb fucking face_ , Peter.”

He hung up.

And for the entire sleepless night that followed, Peter could still hear the ear-to-ear smile in Harley’s voice.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> remember how at like 7:30 this morning i said i would try to write another chapter by the end of the day? yeah i got excited
> 
> and i'm leaving y'all to deal with this until next week lmao get exciteddd
> 
> if you want to keep up with this story and chat with me about it while you wait for the next chapter, please come check me out on tumblr @krustywhore !! i don't post this fic on tumblr, but i'm always down to chat in dms or if you send me an ask about it, i'll totally answer any of your questions:)
> 
> love y'all. hope you're happy with this lol


	11. i'm here / you're here

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> lmao y’all really thought I’d be able to wait until tuesday??
> 
>  
> 
> harley’s in new york bitchesss

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m literally standing outside waiting for my ACT to start and I just couldn’t wait any longer to post this so here we go
> 
> I would love some rad comments to read once I take this bitch of a test lmao love y’all (also thanks for all the sweet messages on tumblr!!!)

To say he hadn’t slept the night before the trip was an understatement. He had barely been able to sleep ever since his last phone call with Peter. They kept sending letters as often as they could, they still texted every day, and sent each other memes, and they both kept adding new songs to the playlists they both made for each other, but they wouldn’t talk about that call.

They wouldn’t bring it up, not explicitly. It was more subtle as if they were both testing the waters before diving right in.

Peter started adding hearts and blushing smiles to the ends of his texts. Harley added a few love songs to Peter’s playlist.

Little things. Harmless, really. They still drove Harley mad waiting for the moment they would see each other in person for the first time.

He wasn’t sure what he would do. Yeah, he told Peter he’d kiss him senseless and to some extent, that was true. He definitely wanted to. Whether or not he’d actually go through with it was a different question. He was fairly certain he’d just take one look at Peter and be so in awe of the fact that the only true friend he’d ever had was real and standing right in front of him.

His real best friend who would be here with him. He wanted to scream.

He did know one thing he would do though, and that was hug Tony Stark and thank him for essentially bringing him the greatest thing in his life. Also May Parker because she raised the greatest person he’s ever known and if there were any awards for parenting, she deserved them all.

As much as he tried, he couldn’t even imagine what it would be like to step off that plane and see the boy he loved. He tried to close his eyes and picture what it would be like to feel Peter’s arms around him, but it never felt real. Nothing would compare to the real thing, he was sure.

Packing his things for the trip was a bitch though. Literally nothing was good enough. He didn’t know how to dress when he would be temporarily living with the boy he was in love with that finally told him that he liked him back! Sue him. By the end of it, his suitcase ended up being full of jeans with varying amounts of oil stains and rips and a plethora of faded logo shirts and flannels. And of course, a giant leather jacket that his uncle gave him before he moved to California. It was his uncle’s from college and it was still a bit big on Harley, but it was warm and from what he knew about New York weather in the fall, he was going to need it.

And if he had a chance to get Peter to wear it at some point, that was just an added bonus.

Abbie was very excited. Obviously not even close to as excited as Harley was, but she was thrilled. For a twelve-year-old, she’d been through a hell of a lot and Harley loved getting to see her just act like a kid again. Besides, Pepper Potts had been her idol for years and the concept of not only meeting her, but staying in her house was mind-blowing to her. She had her heart set on bringing every school project she’d ever done about the woman with her, but Harley convinced her to at least narrow it down to a few. Seeing her so happy made him the happiest he’d been in years.

Peter Parker really was a godsend. Harley didn’t even want to think of where he would be without Peter in his life, but he knew he would’ve still hated just about every part of his life. Abbie was always his light in the darkness. Peter just came to turn the lights back on.

He wasn’t sure how to thank him for that.

By the time Happy Hogan showed up at his door, Harley was so excited he thought he might jump out of his own skin. He carried his and Abbie’s suitcases to the car Happy drove and the man, who explained he was Tony’s personal driver and head of security, took them to the jet waiting at the nearest airport.

He’d never been in a plane before, but flying sure felt a lot like hearing Peter’s laugh.

Abbie was driving Happy nuts the entire time, but the man seemed to be used to kids annoying him. Harley just imagined he was used to Tony dealing with fans and having to keep excited and impatient kids busy all the time.

He took a nap at some point and by the time he woke up, he could see the bright lights and the towering skyscrapers of New York City. He was told that JFK airport was notoriously frustrating, but their small group seemed to make it out of the airport in a fraction of the time those flying on regular planes did. If he ever made it back to see Peter again, he could be one of them.

It was definitely a surprise to see Tony Stark pull up into the private parking lot to pick them up in a bright orange Audi, but then again, he wasn’t really sure what he was expecting.

“Hey, are we going to your tower?” Abbie asked Tony, her eyes wide as she stared excitedly out the window of the car. Tony, now from the passenger seat, smiled and turned around in his teat.

“You betcha’,” he smiled, an amount of caring in his eyes that made Harley wish his sister had been able to grow up with a real father. “Want to guess who’s going to meet us there?” Abbie’s jaw dropped.

“Pepper? Oh my god, is Pepper Potts going to be there?” She was practically bouncing in her seat and Harley couldn’t help but laugh a little. She had never been so excited.

“That she is,” Tony confirmed, earning an excited squeal from the girl. “As a matter of fact, she asked me herself if she might be able to take you out on a special girls’ lunch tomorrow afternoon. How’s about that?”

Abbie looked like she might pass out and Harley was very tempted to tease her about how far her jaw had dropped open.

“C’mon, you’ll catch flies,” he smiled, nudging his sister in the side.

“There aren’t flies here, this is New York City!” Abbie cheered, Tony and Happy both laughing at the statement.

“There are definitely flies here, kiddo,” Happy corrected, but that didn’t seem to dampen her mood at all.

“Mr. Stark, did Pepper really say she wanted to hang out with me?” Abbie redirected her attention again and Tony’s face made a baffled expression.

“How come I’m ‘Mr. Stark’ and she gets to be ‘Pepper’?” He laughed along with Happy and Harley, to which Abbie rolled her eyes.

“Because she’s cooler. Duh,” she answered as if it was nothing.

“Well there you have it, Tony. The age old question. Might have to tell Pete we figured it out,” Happy told the man beside him and Harley felt his heart jump a little bit at the mention of Peter.

Unfortunately, Tony seemed to notice that.

“Oh, right,” he smiled mischievously as he turned around to look at the boy in the backseat. “He told me about what happened between you two, you know.”

Harley felt himself gulp as his cheeks heated up.

“You made him a teddy bear?”

Oh thank god.

Harley visibly deflated and Tony laughed. “Seriously, he takes the thing everywhere. The next time he stayed over at the tower for a weekend while his aunt was working a long shift, I found him asleep on the couch holding the thing. I gotta’ admit, it’s a cute gift, kid. I might need to steal the idea and get something like that for Pep.” Tony gave Harley a once-over and smirked. “What, you thought I was going to say something else? Trust me, I won’t ruin your dignity just yet.”

And so Harley promptly nosedived into his hands.

—

By the time they arrived at the tower, Harley was visibly shaking.

So was Abbie, but only out of excitement.

Harley couldn’t even tell if he was anxious or excited or stressed or just a mix of literally every emotion ever. All he knew was that Peter was there. Peter was only a few hundred feet away. He couldn’t believe it.

Peter had texted him when the plane landed to check in that they had arrived safely and they hadn’t spoken much more other than the former telling him he would be waiting at the tower when Harley arrived.

“You ready?” Tony spoke quietly, nudging him with his elbow as Happy led Abbie to the elevator. Harley looked over at the shorter, much to his amusement, man beside him and smiled nervously.

“No?” He answered with absolutely no confidence, to which Tony laughed. “Yes? Maybe? I have no idea.”

“You’ll be fine,” Tony assured him, clapping the boy’s shoulder as he led him into the elevator. “The kid talks about you like you hung the stars in the sky. I promise, you’ll be fine.”

Harley had no clue what to say to that.

“FRI, where’s Pete?” Tony asked the ceiling of the elevator.

“He, Mrs. Parker, and Ms. Potts are in the main living area, would you like me to take you there now?” The AI replied.

“Perfect, thanks,” Tony answered, rubbing his hands together as the group rode higher and higher. Closer and closer to Peter.

Harley felt a tugging in his chest and he couldn’t help the anxiety that pitted in his stomach as the numbered counter on the elevator wall came closer and closer to their destination.

He wasn’t sure if, when he closed his eyes before the doors opened, it was on purpose or simply his instinct, but he was glad. That way, he was able to make sure that the first person he saw when the doors opened was Peter Parker.

“Harley?”

Oh god that voice. That voice that kept him up at night for weeks.

It was all he’d been thinking about for ages, yet nothing could’ve prepared him for what he saw when he opened his eyes.

Nothing special. Nothing special other than the fact that he was pretty sure he was staring at an actual angel in front of him. Cheesy, sure, but he couldn’t just make that shit up.

Peter was standing there in a pair of jeans and a sweater with his hair going in a million different directions and Harley was pretty sure he fell in love all over again right then.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> my post schedule is a mess right now so who knows when I’ll post the next chapter 
> 
> I guess y’all will just have to wait and see yeehaw


	12. is this a dream? / i hope not

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> it's the moment you've all been waiting for...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i love how i say things like "i won't post until tuesday" and then post twice before tuesday

Peter knew Harley Keener was an absolute force of nature from the moment he laid eyes on him. He looked tired, probably from the flight, but he looked every bit as beautiful as Peter could have imagined. His brain kept screaming at him to run to the boy, to just _get to him_.

_Home. Home. Home._

“Harley?” His mouth made words before his brain could even comprehend it and suddenly their eyes met and Peter was so sure he was going to scream because holy _shit_.

“ _Peter_ ,” Harley breathed, dropping his things on the ground just outside the elevator as he ran. He ran until Peter was in his arms and he could finally let himself exhale again. Peter was short, not usually with Tony around, but Harley was a towering six-foot-three to Peter’s five-foot-ten. Harley absolutely melted when he felt Peter stand on his tiptoes just to be could reach high enough to wrap his arms around Harley’s shoulders and bury his face in the boy’s neck. Harley held him so tightly he thought he might lose a part of himself if he ever let go. Nothing else mattered for those few minutes when they stood in each other’s arms. Not Abbie, not Tony, not May. Neither of them cared that their families were standing there watching them because they were finally together. They were together and Peter decided right then that he never wanted Harley to leave.

He’d lock him in his bedroom if he had to, but he’d never be able to stand to be so far apart anymore. Not when they had a taste of what they both wanted so badly.

Peter curled himself into Harley’s body, his nose pressed into his neck well enough to smell the old leather and motor oil that somehow smelled so sweet.

“Oh my god,” he mumbled against Harley’s jacket, unable to keep the smile off his face. “You’re here.”

“I’m here,” Harley’s voice supplied, sending a chill down Peter’s spine.

“Why do I feel like I’ve unleashed a horrible monster?” The boys were snapped out of their trances by Tony’s joke, making them both laugh a little. “You two aren’t going to gang up on me now, are you?”

Harley laughed, breaking their hug to instead sling his arm around Peter’s shoulders.

“You know us,” he countered, a mischievous look in his eye. “What do you think?”

“I think I should run for the hills, to be perfectly honest.”

Harley looked down at Peter who shrugged and nodded back up at him.

“Yeah that’s probably a good call, Mr. Stark,” Peter spoke without an ounce of sarcasm. “I would say you’re being ridiculous, but now that I know how you two met, I’m pretty sure you need us around to look after you.”

Tony rolled his eyes, sighing as Rhodey laughed, grabbing his friend’s shoulder.

“You kids hungry?” Happy asked, looking between Happy and Abbie. “I’m sure we could whip something up here, or, if you want, there’s an entire city of food out there, or-“

“Actually,” Harley interrupted, glancing over at Peter under his arm before looking up at who he assumed must be Peter’s Aunt May. “Peter and I were talking about going out for lunch somewhere, is...that okay?”

Peter shot a look at May that was about as close to pleading as he could get without opening his mouth.

“Of course, sweetie. You know the drill though, keep your phone on the whole time and-“

“Stay out of Bedford and Harlem. I know,” Peter finished for her, laughing a little as he practically dragged Harley back to the elevator. “We’ll be back before dinner probably!”

They were both giggling when the elevator doors closed them away from everyone else and they soon settled into a comfortable silence.

“Hey,” Harley started, not looking at Peter and instead staring straight ahead at the elevator doors. He still couldn’t hide the smile on his face.

“Hi,” Peter answered, glancing once at the boy looking away from him before grabbing his hand and lacing their fingers together. Peter led the way down the street with their hands intertwined as soon as the doors opened and didn’t look back.

* * *

 

Meanwhile, back in the tower, Tony didn’t hesitate very long before asking FRIDAY, “FRI, did the kid make a move yet?” He didn’t really imply which kid he was talking about, but everyone in the room promptly rolled their eyes and sighed at the man’s question that they all should’ve seen coming.

“Mr. Parker and Mr. Keener left the building holding hands, sir,” FRIDAY answered and Tony whooped, high-fiving May before going to help Pepper in the kitchen making lunch for everyone else.

* * *

 

“So, are we going anywhere in particular or am I just following you blindly?” Harley asked as he tried to take in the busy streets and giant buildings that were the complete opposite of everything in Rose Hill. He was still holding Peter’s hand and, to be completely honest, he was absolutely terrified that someone would see them and they’d get jumped, but the kept going further and further without even so much as a glance from anyone on the street. It was like magic.

“Oh we’re definitely going somewhere,” Peter explained, leading the boy further into Queens.

“Do I get to know where?” He smirked.

“Only the best deli in all of New York City.”

Peter dragged Harley behind him as he jogged across the street towards a small corner store with a sign that read ‘Delmar’s’. Stepping inside the store, Peter seemed to relax, letting go of Harley’s hand temporarily to pet a little orange cat sitting on top of the display case. Harley smiled, running his fingers through the tabby cat’s fur.

“Hey Mr. Delmar!” Peter greeted the grumpy, middle-aged man behind the deli counter who only grunted in response. Harley huffed a laugh that the lack of response didn’t seem to dampen Peter’s mood one bit.

“The usual?” He asked, standing up to prepare the sandwich before Peter even answered.

“You know it,” Peter smiled, pointing at the sandwich on the menu to Harley, who shrugged and mentioned something about trusting Peter’s sandwich judgment. “Actually, make that two today.”

Mr. Delmar raised an eyebrow at Harley, glancing up from the counter only slightly, but enough for the boy to know he was looking at him.

Peter tossed a few bills on the counter by the cash register and as soon as Harley reached for his wallet in his pocket, Peter simply grabbed his hand before he could reach it. If he wasn’t so impressed, Harley probably would’ve been annoyed.

“What gives, Parker?” Harley smirked, using their intertwined hands to pull Peter a little bit closer.

“Come on, I finally get to take you on a date, you gotta’ let me do all the cheesy stuff,” Peter explained, his cheeks heating up as soon as he realized what he had said.

“This is a date?” Harley asked, raising an eyebrow as the corner of his mouth quirked up slightly.

“I-I mean, it doesn’t have to be, I just thought-“

“Nope, it’s a date. We’re on a date, no take-backs.”  
“No take-backs?” Peter laughed. “What are you, ten?”

“It still applies,” he argued, collecting both of their sandwiches in the plastic bag as he held his hand out for Peter to lead him to the next stop on their expedition.

They walked for a few more minutes until Peter stopped at an apartment building.

“Where are we?” Harley asked, still following Peter without a second thought.

“Oh, this is May and I’s building. I usually grab a sandwich after school and eat it up on the fire escape. It’s got a nice view if you’re not too afraid of heights,” Peter explained as they rode the elevator up to the Parkers’ apartment.

Harley couldn’t help but laugh as Peter showed him his bedroom, covered in iron man posters and Star Wars Lego displays. He honestly didn’t know what he was expecting. He watched as Peter climbed out the window first with a practiced grace that made Harley look like a gangly mess as he tried to fit through the open window with them both laughing the entire time.

Peter was definitely right, the view from the fire escape was beautiful and being able to look out over the massive city filled with people made him feel just a little bit lucky despite the shitty hand he’d been dealt in life so far. In a city of millions of people, somehow he found the best one. That had to be some sort of miracle.

Even as he glanced over at Peter while they ate, he could see the light shining across his face that made him look almost ethereal. He wouldn’t be surprised if none of it was real.

“Is this a dream?” He asked, not really expecting the answer he received.

“I hope not,” Peter mumbled, scooting himself closer to Harley before leaning his head onto the taller boy’s shoulder. Harley slid his arm around Peter’s waist, pulling him flush against his side as they sat side by side on the railing.

He thought for a moment about all the letters they’d exchanged, all of the texts and late night phone calls. All of the miles that would be between them as soon as Harley went home. He thought about Peter and the miracle that somehow brought them together and how he might never find anyone like him again.

With both of their sandwich wrappers tossed inside through the window, Harley sat up, put his hand on Peter's cheeks, tilted his chin up, and kissed him.

Simple as that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> whoomp there it is
> 
> tune in next time for more! this!
> 
> love u all, thanks for all the support:) seeing like ten comments after I finished my ACT on saturday was so amazing and y'all really made my day, so merci beaucoup


	13. a tight-knit family / days like this

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> the fluffiest chapter yet? yeah probably

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the title is two songs from the musical 'falsettos' (aka my favorite musical of all time lol 10/10 would recommend)
> 
> also this isn't even close to what I planned to happen in this chapter but it just kinda happened lmao oh well, that's just how this fic is going right now

True to his word, Peter had Harley back at the tower with a bit of time to spare before dinner. However, that definitely didn’t stop them from making the most of their time at the Parkers’ apartment before they left.

Harley might have even decided he liked Star Wars more than Star Trek upon watching it a different way.

Or maybe he got distracted by the plot of whichever chapter they were watching and decided that there were other, more interesting things they could be doing instead.

Either way, he definitely would never think of Star Wars the same way again.

When they returned to the compound to find Rhodey and Pepper in the kitchen with Abbie sitting on the counter messily scattering sprinkles on what appeared to be at least a couple batches of chocolate cupcakes. Pepper was icing them and passing them to Abbie to decorate while Rhodey seemed to be stirring a giant pot of spaghetti.

“What’s with all the food?” Peter asked, the two boys walking further into the room to see even more bowls around the kitchen filled with side dishes.

“Oh shit, I forgot to tell you,” Tony swore, hopping up from where he was seated on the couch with May and Happy.

“Tony, language,” Pepper scolded, nodding towards Abbie sitting on the counter.

“Yeah Tony, watch your goddamn language,” Abbie agreed, making Pepper drop her piping bag into the counter as she laughed. Tony gave her a high-five.

“I like this kid,” Tony announced, ruffling Abbie’s hair.

Harley scooped his finger into Pepper’s small mess of frosting on the counter, licking it off with a resounding pop. “What about the food though?”

“The team’s coming over for dinner,” Tony answered like it was nothing. Peter didn’t seem that phased by it, but he laughed a little when he saw Harley’s face.

“The team? As in like… _the Avengers_?” Harley gaped.

“You’re literally living in my house,” Tony chuckled sharing a look with Rhodey. “You know me, you know Rhodey. It’s not really that much more exciting, is it?”

“Oh, it definitely is,” Peter assured him. “The first time Thor came to visit Earth is still the greatest day of my life.”

“Rude,” Harley laughed from beside him, the fond look in his eyes showing he wasn’t actually upset.

“Hey, this day isn’t over yet, you still have a chance to pull ahead,” Peter defended, Harley wrapping his arm around the smaller boy’s waist as they stood in the kitchen.

“I guess I’ll have to make it a good one then,” Harley whispered, leaning in close enough for Peter to feel his breath against his lips. He could feel the heat rising to his cheeks.

“Okay well if you boys are _done_ ,” Tony interrupted, making Peter sigh frustratedly as he leaned his forehead into Harley’s chest. “I could use some help setting the table.”  
It wasn’t much longer before the team arrived. They gradually trickled in over the span of about half an hour, starting with those known for being punctual like Steve and Bruce and finishing with Clint who showed up five minutes into the meal looking like he’d literally just rolled out of bed. Harley had been incredibly starstruck with each hero that he met, which Peter couldn’t help but tease him about. Even when they all sat down around the giant dining table, Peter couldn’t help but find himself stealing glances at the boy beside him. He was sure the others were starting to catch on, but he honestly didn’t even care. As long as they didn’t mention it, he didn’t mind them staring or giving him weird glances. All he cared about was being able to catch Harley’s fond glances every time their hands brushed under the table.

It was the first time since Ben died that Peter finally felt like he had a real family.

With May right across from him, Pepper and Tony right beside her, Happy at the end of the table looking so overwhelmed, all the Avengers new and old sitting around the table, and of Harley right by his side. A family. _His_ family.

“What do you say we all play some games after dinner before we all have to head out?” Rhodey suggested as he, Pepper, and Abbie began to pass around the cupcakes they made.

Everyone seemed very excited about the idea, most of them eager to catch up after being apart in different parts of the world (or other worlds entirely) for so long, but as soon as Scott and Clint suggested they finally have their long-awaited Mario Kart rematch, everyone rushed to finish their desserts to get to the game.

Hanging out with the Avengers, Harley soon learned, was a lot like hanging out with middle schoolers. If he was being totally honest, Abbie was enough of a handful to raise on his own so a dozen or so superheroes acting like preteens was nothing.

They all quickly filled up the communal living room, taking every available seat and then some even lounging with blankets on the floor. Peter and Harley squeezed in on one of the large lounge chairs beside the sofa, Peter sitting mostly on Harley’s lap just so they both could fit. Harley had one arm around the boy’s waist and Peter’s around his shoulders. If anyone noticed, they didn’t mention it.

“Hey, you’ve got somethin’ on your nose,” Harley chuckled, Peter turning to face him as he stared cross-eyed to try to see the smear of frosting coating the tip of his nose. He went to wipe it off, but before he could, Harley grabbed his wrist and pulled him closer instead, kissing the tip of the other boy’s nose, licking his lips as he pulled back.

Peter’s face was bright red and he stared at Harley’s seeming-casual expression for a few moments before shrugging and curling into the other’s chest as they watched Sam and Bucky screaming at each other as they took the first turn racing.

They spent at least a few hours making just about every pair race at least once. It was clear some people were starting to get tired, yet no one made any move to go home. Even Natasha, who had just flown in that morning from a solo mission in Japan and was incredibly jet-lagged, elected to nap on Bruce’s shoulder rather than retreating to the guest room Tony had offered her. None of them wanted to leave the comfort of the group. Not when they’d all been apart for so long.

That was, until Peter felt like he would rather swan dive out the tower window than stay in that room for another moment.

“Starkson!” Peter’s head snapped up when Thor called out the nickname he had coined the day they had first met almost a year earlier when the god had mistakenly thought Peter was Tony’s son rather than his intern. “It’s about time you raced your boyfriend! Every couple should test whether or not they are willing to let their partner win such a competitive game.”

Peter’s face went so red he was worried he might pass out. He couldn’t even look at Harley, but the other boy looked about the same.

“I didn’t _let you_ win,” Bruce argued back, his fingers carefully combing through Thor’s hair. He, and almost everyone else in the room didn’t seem fazed one bit by the initial statement. Peter felt like he might have a heart attack. Bruce glanced over at Peter, his eyes sympathetic. “Racing just makes me anxious.”

“H-he’s not...he’s not my boyfriend,” Peter corrected, looking down at his hands as Harley’s arm tightened around his waist. No one said anything for much longer than he would’ve liked.

“I mean,” Harley broke the silence, rubbing the back of his neck with his free hand. “I was going to ask you before I left anyway.”

Peter's head snapped to face him immediately, desperately searching Harley’s face for some indication that he was joking. He wasn’t sure if he was surprised or not that he found none.

“Are you serious?” He asked, almost forgetting that their very intimate and personal moment was happening in front of about two dozen other people.

“Yeah,” Harley sighed, rubbing his thumb across Peter’s jaw. “Yeah of course.”

“ _Gross_ ,” Abbie whined as Peter practically dove into Harley’s arms, the latter kissing his cheek with a fond chuckle. Everyone, including the new couple, laughed at that and Pepper turned around to challenge Abbie to a race next.

Harley and Peter took their places sitting on the coffee table in front of the TV, game controllers in both of their hands. The game screen projected a countdown from five and Peter glanced to his side with a mischievous grin.

“You’re going down, _babe_ ,” he mused, dragging the pet name out to the point where Sam wolf whistled from the couch behind him and Harley gaped at him so long he missed the start of the race and Peter surged ahead.

The moment he noticed though, he was quickly climbing the ranks, half of the group cheering for Peter and half, mostly those who had lost their own races, cheered for Harley in his underdog status.

“That’s low, Parker,” Harley teased, knowing not to look away from the screen. “A low blow, even for you.”

Peter scoffed, not letting the comment deter him for more than a split second to hit a wall, only to zoom back into first place.

Harley caught up eventually, but not enough to pass Peter, who stayed in the lead basically the entire time. He’d had enough team game nights in the past couple years to know a thing or two about Mario Kart.

“Bold move Pete,” Tony chided. “You gotta’ know when to try and when to let him win.”

“Don’t listen to him,” Natasha smiled, ruffling Peter’s hair. “He doesn’t know anything.”

“Who says I didn't just let you win?” Harley countered, standing up and offering a hand to Peter. 

Peter rolled his eyes, the two taking Abbie and Pepper’s places on the couch as they went to start the next race.

“Sure thing,” Peter teased. “Whatever you say, _babe_.”

“Oh I am _never_ going to let that go, Parker. You’re going to regret not letting me say it first.”

“Am I?” Peter smirked, leaning back into Harley’s chest as the latter played with his hair as Peter played with his hands. “Because for some reason, I really don’t see myself regretting being smart enough to exploit our relationship for Mario Kart reasons.”

“That’s my boy,” Tony interjected, jokingly raising a glass in Peter’s direction.

* * *

By the end of the night, multiple members of the group were asleep, Harley included and Peter barely awake. The taller boy had his arms around Peter’s torso and his head pillowed on the other’s shoulder and Peter’s heart felt like it might burst at any moment. As some of the team retreated to guest rooms in the tower, others drove back to their own apartments nearby or to the compound upstate. Eventually, all of the Avengers were gone, with the exception of Tony and Rhodey, who refused to sleep until they were able to beat their high scores.

Pepper dragged Abbie away to get ready for bed by the time it was almost ten o’clock, leaving a room full of boys and May.

“Hey, sweetheart?” May spoke up quietly, catching Peter’s attention. “I think I’m going to turn in for the night, but can I talk to you for a second?” He nodded and gently slid himself out of Harley’s grasp, the latter whining slightly in his sleep once he realized Peter was gone.

“What’s up?” Peter asked when May pulled him aside into the kitchen, keeping his voice quiet for the sake of everyone else in the building.

“He seems lovely, Peter,” May smiled sweetly, holding her nephew’s head in her hands. Peter smiled, his eyes flickering to Harley asleep on the sofa. “Really, I’m so happy for you both.”

The boy’s cheeks flushed pink and he curled his arms around himself the way Harley’s had been just moments before.

“You don’t…think it’s weird?”

May laughed a little as she pulled her nephew into her chest, hugging him tightly.

“Baby, I’m going to tell you the same thing I told you when you came out to me, which is that I don’t care one bit who you choose to love. The only thing I care about is that whoever it may be loves you just as much as you love them. And he does. It’s clear as day how much that boy cares about you, Peter. You found a good one,” she explained, kissing the top of his head.

“Yeah, I did,” Peter beamed, relaxing into his aunt’s arms. “The best, actually.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was thiiiiiiiiiiiiiis close to shipping may and rhodey together just randomly on impulse but alas
> 
> if you guys would actually like for me to add in more background relationships, i'm totally down for it, but i didn't want it to distract too much from the main storyline so if there are any other ships (apart from pepperony and thorbruce which i've decided are going to be a thing whether it distracts from the story or not lol) feel free to let me know in the comments! i'm basically down to write anything so i'll probably take whoever comments first :)
> 
> love y'all
> 
> (also i'm at school right now and i have no finals today which means i have 4 hours straight of free writing time so i'm just gonna whip up the next like,,,3 chapters and, knowing myself and my posting schedule, i'll probably just post them all at once lol)


	14. you okay? / liar.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> im back bitches
> 
> also this chapter is just pure angst because it's been a while since i made these boys sad

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> possibly tw:  
> \- gunshots  
> \- mild descriptions of a panic attack  
> \- stalking
> 
>  
> 
> also I hope this makes sense lol. basically, i just wanted to change up the formatting so it didn't completely turn into a regular format fanfic even though they're not really writing letters right now. also i changed the story that made peter have a breakdown like six times so if there's something at the beginning that doesn't go with the rest of the story, i'm sorry in advance, i didn't proofread this and i'm not going to

There was a point, by Wednesday of that week, that Peter realized he had less time left with Harley than had already passed. He crawled back in through his bedroom window just before midnight, peeling off his suit as quickly as he could like it was some sort of plague. He just stared at it crumpled on the floor for longer than he would’ve liked to admit before crawling into bed and trying to ignore the thoughts of that night.

He hadn’t even thought about Harley going back to Rose Hill the entire time but late at night in the middle of the week, he laid awake in his bed staring at the ceiling knowing Harley was sound asleep right next door. It was some specific sort of pain in which he had somehow fallen from the happiest he’d ever been to a pit of dread where he realized that he knew exactly when it would all be gone. There was a cruel irony to it when he looked back on how he had once thought they

would never even have the chance to meet Harley in person. But there they were.

He couldn’t help himself after about ten minutes of freaking himself out with his thoughts and he crawled out of bed.

The guest room Harley was staying in was right next door. That was the compromise they had all made when May and Tony refused to let Peter and Harley share a room after everyone knew about their relationship. He knocked on the door gently, not wanting to wake anyone else in the rooms around theirs. He rubbed his bare arms, shivering slightly at the cold air of the hallway.

Harley opened the door much faster than Peter had expected. He was surprised his knock was even enough to wake him up, but he felt his eyes water the moment he saw him. He was charmingly disheveled from sleeping and dressed in embarrassing pajamas, but Harley didn’t hesitate to open his arms and Peter didn’t waste more than a second before falling into them.

Not breaking their embrace for even a minute, Harley carefully maneuvered the pair to curl up into the queen bed that was covered in blankets to fight the New York autumn cold.

Neither of them spoke for a long time. They curled up together beneath a mountain of blankets as Harley methodically ran his fingers through Peter’s hair, twirling the curliest parts, and Peter gingerly traced the lined of Harley’s free hand, intertwining their fingers and pressing their hands to his chest.

“You okay?” Harley asked quietly, his voice groggy from sleep. Peter didn’t move at all to look up at him, but Harley knew he wasn’t asleep. “That’s probably a dumb question.”

He waited a moment before trying again.

“Are you at least…physically okay?” Peter shifted slightly, tensing in his shoulders, but he nodded his head against Harley’s chest.

_Liar._

The voice in Peter’s head was screaming at him.

_Liar. You’re lying to him._

He shook his head again.

_Just tell him about Spider-Man. He deserves to know the real reason why Tony and May wouldn’t let you stay in the same room._

Peter just shuddered out a breath that was almost a whimper and gripped the fabric of Harley’s t-shirt.

“Hey, hey, I’m sorry,” Harley whispered, repeating his words as he continued to run his hands through Peter’s hair. “I’m sorry, just breathe. I won’t ask again, I’m sorry.”

_See? He thinks he did something wrong just because you almost got your friends killed. He deserves to know the truth._

He couldn’t bring himself to speak.

He knew, he just _knew_ that the moment he opened his mouth, he’d tell Harley everything. He’d tell him about how Ben died, and the spider bite, and homecoming, and the Vulture, and he wouldn’t be able to stop. He couldn’t do it, not after what had just happened.

_You can’t protect them all. You can’t keep him safe forever._

He knew he couldn’t. Ben was proof, the ferry was proof, _Ned and MJ were proof_.

In one split second, he’d almost lost his two best friends and now the voice in his head was screaming at him to tell Harley the same thing that almost got Ned and MJ killed.

Absolutely not.

He couldn’t risk it. Not when Harley would be far away from New York City. Far away from Spider-Man.

Far away from Peter, who was bad for him.

Who couldn’t keep him safe.

_“Wanna’ come back to the tower? We can walk or I can call Happy to pick us up. Harley’s been dying to meet you guys, I keep telling him all about you. He wanted to come to watch practice tonight, but his little sister wanted him to watch a movie with her.”_

No, no he couldn’t.

_“Yeah sure, sounds awesome! You guys were working on Tony’s new suit, right? That’s so cool.”_

Reliving it was worse. Reliving it was so, so much worse.

_“I mean, I was going to try to finish this documentary I started earlier, but I’ll come if there aren't too many people there.”_

Please, no.

_“What was it about?”_

_“Female oppression in the middle ages.”_

_“Sweet.”_

He couldn’t think about it.

_“Hey, has Harley worked on your suit at all?”_

He should tell him.

_“He…he doesn’t know.”_

He hated lying to Harley more than anyone.

_“He doesn’t know about Spider-Man? Dude, you told me like two days after you got your suit! He’s your boyfriend, he should know!”_

He was right. Ned always knew what was right for him.

_“Uh, guys? Parker, that’s not Happy’s car, right?”_

The Merchant of Death. That’s what they called Tony back in the day.

_BANG!_

The press had no idea that at only four years old, Peter Parker had caused more death in the small scope of his world than Tony Stark ever did in his.

_“Shit! Get down!”_

He tried to shield them.

_“Get behind me!”_

He tried to cover them both, but it wasn’t enough.

_Bullets were ricocheting off the bodega walls._

He had to get them out.

_He didn’t have his web shooters. The one time he didn’t bring his web shooters._

He couldn’t mess this up.

_MJ screamed beside him, grabbing her shoulder as Peter watched a splotch of red spread through her shirt sleeve._

His job was to protect people.

_The car was cutting off traffic, not hesitating to shoot at any of the other cars or pedestrians that got in its way._

His job was to protect his family above anything else.

_“On my count, you both need to run behind that parked car and into the alley behind it.”_

There was no room for error, not even a step out of place.

_“I’ll take care of these guys, just get somewhere safe and find a way to get to a hospital!”_

He could fight hand to hand.

_“Peter! What about you?”_

All that mattered was keeping his friends safe.

_“I’ll be fine! I’ve done this a hundred times, just get somewhere safe!”_

He’d been training with Natasha, he’d be fine.

_“We’re not leaving you here!”_

He felt a bullet skid across the roof of the car he was hiding behind and he took a deep breath.

_“I can’t risk doing this if you’re still here, just go!”_

_He leapt over the hood of the parked car and into the fray._

_He could hear two sets of footsteps running away and he couldn’t help but feel the tension roll off his shoulders._

_It was just like any other night on patrol._

_He could do this._

_A bullet grazed his thigh, hitting the car behind him but leaving a small gash in his leg._

_Actually, Spiderman could do this._

_It was easy to tell what he had to do once he was in the fight for real._

_It wasn’t even that hard to blow out the tires and find out there was only one gunman in the car._

_Anything if it meant his friends were okay._

_He couldn’t even bring himself to go to the hospital to meet them afterwards._

_He couldn’t risk anyone else following him there and putting his friends in danger again._

_His best option was to suffer in silence like he always did until it all got to be too much for him._

It wasn’t like he didn’t know that going to Harley was a bad idea.

He knew he shouldn’t choose the boy that would be gone in four days as his safety net, but he couldn’t help it.

He needed Harley, whether it was good for him or not.

Harley had only met Ned and MJ twice during his time in New York, but he had immediately clicked with them and the four got on like they had been friends for years.

Peter knew Harley would understand his panic even if he’d only just met them.

Losing people you loved was tough.

Peter didn’t even lose them and he was seconds away from a full-blown panic attack.

But Harley’s arms felt safe when he finally let himself curl into the boy who only wanted to help. They felt like home and safety and Peter just wanted something that felt like everything was going to be okay.

He would go to the emergency room in the morning just to make sure MJ was safe when the streets were a little more clear and he wouldn’t have to worry about someone following him, but until then, sleeping side by side with Harley’s arms wrapped tightly around his torso from behind felt safe and he really needed that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey my dudes! sorry it's been a while lol I just finished school last thursday and i've been to more parties in the past three days than i have in all of high school so sorry about not posting for a while:)
> 
> anyway, i have big plans for the next chapter thanks to an awesome commenter ( ) who suggested an amazing idea a few chapters back and i'm so excited to get started on it! 
> 
> also, i'm trying to decide where to end this fic, so if you would be interested in reading a sequel to this, please let me know in the comments!!


	15. a double date / a fight

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> hi i'm still alive
> 
> by request, harley meets flash;)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hi I promise I'm not abandoning this fic, but i've been super busy even though it's summer and i don't have school lol
> 
> and i have big news!! I'm going to the far from home premiere on wednesday!! i literally can't even believe it but i'm going to the afterparty too and i'll be there with the cast and i might get to meet tom and z and jake gyllenhaal and i'm so shook about it and i really wanted to get this chapter out before then so I could tell y'all about it!
> 
> anyway, i hope you guys like this chapter! hopefully i'll be able to update a bit more regularly now:)
> 
> (also this is the longest chapter so far, which will hopefully make up for the hiatus a little bit lol)

“Hey, Harley?”

The boy in question looked up from his lab desk, meeting Peter’s gaze across the room. The two boys, along with Tony, had been working in the lab for hours and the sun was close to setting. Peter had his phone in his hand, seemingly texting with someone.

“Hmm?” The boy answered, crossing the lab to stand next to his boyfriend.

“Ned was wondering if we wanted to come with him and Betty to the movies,” he explained. “Like a double date sort of thing.”

Harley couldn’t possibly hide the giant smile on his face. Hell, he knew Peter was out to his friends and at his school, but he still wasn’t used to the fact that he and Peter could go out as a couple and spend time with straight couples without getting jumped. Tennessee really fucking _sucked_ compared to New York.

“Really?” His hands seemed to instinctively wrap around Peter’s hips like they were drawn together by magnets.

Peter laughed a little, his hand wrapping around Harley’s wrist.

“Of course,” he smiled. “I mean, if you don’t want to it’s fine, I just thought since-“

“No, let’s go! I’m serious, we would never be able to do this sort of thing in Rose Hill, so I’m all for it,” he admitted, only a little bit of bitterness in his tone. Peter’s eyes held a sympathy that Harley both hated and was grateful for.

“Okay then,” he smiled, rising up on his toes to peck his boyfriend on his smirking lips. “Ned said he could pick us up around eight.”

“Sounds perfect,” Harley drawled, pulling Peter back to him as he tried to walk back to his workbench. He sat back down in his own swivel chair, pulling Peter by his belt loops so he was close enough to stand between his legs. The now taller boy barely hesitated before kissing him again, over and over like he couldn’t stop if he tried.

That was something they had been doing a lot that week. Neither of them wanted to think about what would happen when Harley inevitably went home, but they could both agree to make the most of what time they had left together without ruining it by worrying about what little time was remaining.

“Hey lovebirds,” Tony spoke up, both boys forgetting the man was even in the room. Both of their heads snapped towards his voice. “Your aunt has to work tonight, Pete, and Pep is helping Abbie write an essay for school. Rhodey and I have a gala thing downtown tonight so it’ll just be you two and the ladies when you get home. FRI can order pizza or something if you don’t get dinner while you’re out, just please don’t be gross with my fiancée and your sister in the house.”

Peter sputtered at the last request, whereas Harley simply slid his hand into Peter’s back pocket and smirked.

“Will do, dad.”

The man in question sighed and rolled his eyes before returning to his work.

* * *

 

That night, Abbie sat on Harley’s guest bed as her older brother went through just about every shirt he packed, asking for her opinion on every single one.

“They all look fine, plus it doesn’t matter anyway,” Abbie sighed, laying on the bed and only glancing away from her phone whenever she needed to comment the same review she’d given to every previous outfit.

“Yeah, but which one looks _better_. I know they’re all basically the same but like,” Harley sighed, repositioning the red flannel shirt under his leather jacket. “Are some of them bad at least?”  
“Does it even matter?” She quirked up an eyebrow. “Peter already likes you, it’s not like you’re trying to impress him or anything.”  
Harley shrugged off the jacket, swapping it out for a denim one that matched his dark jeans.

“Yeah I know,” he agreed, a small smile on his face. “But like, I want his _friends_ to like me too.”

“Fine,” Abbie groaned, sitting up properly as she looked over the current outfit. “Wear the beige hoodie from before with the leather jacket and the boots. Trust me, Peter will love it and so will his friends.”

Harley exhaled through a quick ‘thank you’ and rushed back into the closet.

“Can I go now?” Abbie groaned, sliding off the bed and onto the floor, which was covered in discarded clothing options.

“Should I wear a hat?”

“No, your hair looks less awful than usual.”

“Fine, now you can go.”

Abbie didn’t even make it five steps down the hall before Peter was begging her to help him pick an outfit her brother would like. As much as she loved seeing Harley so happy, boys were annoying as _fuck_.

* * *

“You look really nice,” Peter spoke softly as he stepped out of his bedroom to find Harley leaning up against the elevator door. Harley beamed as his eyes scanned Peter’s body.

“And you’re somehow more gorgeous than usual, darlin’,” Harley countered smoothly, taking Peter by the belt loops of his dark jeans and pulling him close.

“You’re so mean,” Peter chuckled, adjusting the sleeves of his dark green sweater and pulling his gray beanie further over his eyes, which were turning pink with blush. “Why can’t I be the suave, romantic one?”

Harley kissed the corner of his lips quickly before grabbing Peter’s hand and boarding the elevator.

“Babe, I’m impressed you can even speak whole sentences,” Harley teased. “The first time you saw my perfect face, you could barely remember the English language.”

Peter scoffed as they both rode the elevator all the way to the bottom, holding hands but not looking at each other just like they had done on their first date.

“There is literally only one true fact in that statement, which is that your face is perfect, and it is.”

“You know what, I’m gonna’ let that slide because that was super cute,” Harley smiled, leaning over to kiss Peter’s temple before the elevator doors opened. They still kept their hands together even as the walked down the street to where Ned had told them to meet him.

Ned had been gifted a hand-me-down car for his birthday that he was absolutely in love with and, being the only one in their group that ever learned how to drive, was basically the designated driver every time they hung out. Harley could drive, which wasn’t exactly useful without his motorcycle, but when he showed Peter a picture of him on it, the boy totally swooned and that was good enough for him.

“Hey guys!” Ned waved from the driver's seat as they approached the car. Betty riding shotgun looked up from a book in her lap and waved at the two.

Ned had met Harley the second day he was in New York, but Betty didn’t really even know who he was other than being Peter’s boyfriend. The two introduced themselves, Betty laughing in surprise at Harley’s accent until he explained that he was just visiting from Tennessee.

“Are you guys hungry for like _actual_ food, or are we just eating popcorn for dinner?” The answer was a resounding vote for popcorn.

There were plenty of nice movie theaters downtown that had good seats and weren’t overly crowded, but Peter and Ned’s favorite was one in The Bronx that was family-owned and had the best movie theater popcorn in the whole city.

“You have the tickets, right?” Betty asked Ned as they walked in, the boy in question nodding.

“Yeah,” he turned to Peter and Harley. “MJ and Kate were supposed to come, but when they broke up, MJ went to see the movie by herself out of spite.”

“Sounds like her,” Peter agreed, the group filing into the lines for food and drinks.

They filed into their seats amongst chatter about the holiday the next day and everyone’s dread over going back to school and Harley was hit with the regretful realization that he was going to have to leave behind the whole other world that was New York City.

It was 2017 and he was still had to deal with small town homophobes who would inevitably care more about destroying his relationship than finding one of their own. He didn’t want to hold any sort of resentment towards Peter for being able to live somewhere infinitely better than the situation Harley and Abbie were stuck in, but soon enough he’d make it back to New York. He’d find a way to get custody of Abbie and work as many shifts at the garage as he could until he could rent a shitty one bedroom in a bad neighborhood and be happier than they ever would be in Rose Hill.

“Hey,” Peter spoke up, snapping him out of his thoughts as they sat down side by side. He ran a hand through Harley’s hair, resting it on the of his head gently. “You okay?”

Harley just lifted up the armrest between their seats and curled up against Peter’s side, resting his head on the smaller boy’s shoulder.

“Just distract me for a little bit before I think too much about leaving,” Harley mumbled over the opening credits of the shitty horror movie they hadn’t bothered to ask the name of.

Peter said nothing, but Harley felt a kiss right at his temple and the hand holding his own tightened, Peter running his thumb over Harley’s knuckles gently.

It actually was fairly distracting for a while once the movie started. He held the popcorn bucket in his lap, occasionally eating a few pieces, but mostly enjoying the ease of tossing them in the air for Peter to catch in his mouth.

It amazed him how good his boyfriend was at something so ridiculous, but his ability to catch every kernel with ease was so flawless that Harley was almost sure he had a sixth sense or something.

“Is that Penis Parker?”

Harley’s blood ran cold. Peter’s hand tightened around his own.

“Shit, Penis,” a boy with tanned skin and a smirk on his face that told Harley everything he needed to know about his relationship with Peter. “I knew you were a fag, but I never thought you’d find someone dumb enough to go out with you.”

“Fuck off Flash,” Ned defended from beside Peter, Harley slightly relieved that at least one of them was able to speak. “He didn’t do anything, just watch the damn movie.”

Harley glanced over at Peter, who looked like he was ready to sink into the floor, and felt his heart break a million times over.

“I’d say you should find a girl instead, but I doubt any would even give you a second glance,” Flash seemingly closed with, grabbing the wrist of whatever poor girl agreed to go out with him and began to walk to their seats. Harley, however, was having none of it anymore.

He was in Flash’s face in a heartbeat, grabbing the front of the boy’s shirt and shoving him against the wall of the theater.

“What the _fuck_ did you just say to him?” Harley demanded, a rage coursing through his veins that he had never felt before.

“Calm down, dude, it’s not a big deal-“

“Like _hell_ it’s not!” He bellowed, forgetting for a moment that there were other people there that were trying to enjoy the trailers for upcoming movies. He gently relaxed his grip, letting Flash’s feet return to the ground. Harley let go of Flash’s shirt, not breaking eye contact even for a second as he felt Peter run up behind him, grabbing his hand and wrapping the other around his arm, trying to convince him to return to their seats. “Tony Stark _personally_ flew me out here from Tennessee and I bet my life he would easily do it again if I ever found out you even looked at him the wrong way again, do you understand?” His voice was deep and sharp and it gave Peter chills to hear Harley go off the rails like that, but he loved the look on Flash’s face when he said it.

“Whatever, man,” Flash grumbled, grabbing the girl by the wrist again as they disappeared into the back of the theater.

“Harls,” Peter spoke, his hand wrapping around Harley’s torso from behind and his face buried between the boy’s shoulder blades. “Please, just let him go.”

He turned around, Peter’s face only illuminated by the glow of the movie screen behind him. Harley glanced around at the theater full of people trying to pretend they weren't staring at them.

"Can we talk outside?" Harley nodded and the two sheepishly exited the theater. Once in the hallway of theaters, they were, for the most part, alone. The sank down against the wall, seated side by side on the horrifically-patterned carpet. 

"How long?" Harley asked, not looking at anything other than the wall across from them. Peter said nothing. "Peter-"

"Does it matter?" His voice sounded so small. Everything about his attitude made it clear this was nowhere near the first time. 

"Please," Harley asked him, needing to know just how badly his boyfriend had been hurt by this kid. 

Peter paused for a moment. "Since we first met."

Harley reached over and took his hand, neither of them making eye contact, but assuring each other of their presence the way they always did.

"Since freshman year?" Harley had the audacity to look horrified and Peter felt his stomach twist with guilt as their eyes met. 

"Since sixth grade," he whispered, his eyes dropping from Harley's, even if just for a moment. 

Harley could feel his eyes burning and he wrapped his hand around the base of Peter's neck, pulling him close as his lips met the boy's forehead, closing tightly as he felt Peter cling to his torso. Peter's face tucked perfectly under his chin, Harley cradling his head in his hands. His hair was so soft and his smile so bright and his soul was so pure and good-natured despite the shit that he'd been through and Harley couldn't even believe anyone could ever hate the boy he loved so much. 

Love.

It didn't even scare him when he realized it. 

He was sure it was a bit too early to say it and the knew it probably wasn't the right time to drop something like that on Peter, but he loved that boy so damn much and he'd fight to the ends of the Earth to protect him from anyone who doesn't believe it. 

When they had both composed themselves, they headed back into the theater, both curling tightly into each other in their seats and Ned and Betty quietly checked up on the couple to make sure they were okay. The assured their friends that they would be fine, but Harley was sure he was going to have a talk with Peter's Aunt May about the kid bullying his boyfriend. As much as he just wanted to believe the supposed "Flash" would leave Peter alone, he knew that as soon as he went back to Rose Hill, Flash would likely be back to his old ways. 

The movie was pretty trashy and once it was over, Harley was pretty sure he couldn't even begin to explain what it was about, but it distracted him from the mess before the movie.

Plus, on their way out, Harley made sure to kiss Peter right where Flash could see as his first step on his new mission to make sure everyone in the city knew that Peter Parker was so incredibly loved and that he deserved it in every sense of the word. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i hope y'all liked this! sorry it took so long for me to update but i'll be able to work on it more often now so hopefully the next chapter will come sooner than this one:)
> 
> i'll be sure to attach some pictures from the premier with the next chapter, as well as on my tumblr, so thank you all for being patient!! if you have any ideas for future chapters, feel free to let me know lol i have the ending planned out, but i'm running out of ideas to fill the time until i get there so i might write a chapter for thanksgiving and a chapter for harley's last day in new york and then do a time jump...we shall see
> 
> until next time!


	16. thankful / I love you

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> fuck I did it
> 
> I hate thanksgiving but here’s some pure cooking fluff and a tiny bit of angst at the end because I couldn’t help myself

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m at an airport for a layover in texas and I’m about to go to guatemala!!! I’m gonna be off the grid until the 15th so I won’t be able to see most of y’all’s comments and stuff but I really hope you guys like this! I’m going to have lots of time to write while I’m in guatemala so I’ll have at least one or two chapters to post when I get back;)

“Harley, sweetheart, could give Peter a hand with the table settings? I asked him to just do something simple, but there are so many dishes out right now that there isn’t any room for the food,” Pepper chuckled, stirring a pot of cranberry sauce on the stove as Harley mashed a bowl of potatoes on the counter beside her. He glanced over his shoulder at his boyfriend with a dozen or more dishes in his hands as he frantically moved around plates and silverware, unable to help his smile. “I’m sure Abbie can take over with the potatoes.”

The girl in question made no hesitation to abandon the apple pie lattice she was weaving and scooped out a finger full of mashed potatoes, to which Pepper swatted her hand away with a smile.

Harley, on the other hand, spared no hesitation in wrapping himself around Peter. 

“Hey,” Harley smiled, peeking his chin over Peter’s shoulder as he slid his arms around the smaller boy’s waist. Peter blushed smiling to himself, his eyes flicking across Harley’s face before stopping right at his closer cheek. 

He leaned over, kissing Harley’s cheek, licking the mashed potatoes off his lips as he pulled away. 

“You know, if you’re planning on sneaking samples of the food, you probably shouldn’t leave the evidence all over your face,” Peter mused, eliciting an eye roll from Harley, who detached himself from the other’s back. 

“Don’t expose me, Parker,” he laughed, nudging Peter in the side with his elbow as he smoothly rearranged the plates and bowls on the table so leave the table runner empty with plenty of space for the actual food dishes. “Especially since I have to clean up after you, apparently.”

Peter scoffed, throwing a leaf-printed cloth napkin in Harley’s face. 

“You’re the worst,” Peter grumbled, taking Harley’s lead and beginning to arrange the table the way the other was. 

“You love me,” Harley retorted without thinking. 

Peter would’ve dropped the plate he was holding if it wasn’t for his stickiness. 

Still, he smiled and said nothing, both of them hyper-aware of each other’s reluctance to respond to that. 

“Pepper, you’re sure I can’t help with anything?” May asked as she entered the kitchen, Abbie being carried on her back. Harley couldn’t help but roll his eyes at his almost-teenage sister. “I feel bad enough that we had to move dinner up to lunch just because I couldn’t get off work, but at least let me take over with the heavy mixing for a little while.”

Pepper reluctantly agreed, handing the stuffing bowl she was mixing to May and taking a pan of freshly baked bread rolls out of the oven instead. 

“It’s nice,” Pepper mentioned softly to May beside her, trying to make sure the boys across the room didn’t hear. “To see him so happy.”

May chuckled quietly, nodding to herself. “I’ve never seen him smile so much.”

“You know, I only met Harley once before this,” Pepper admitted. “He stayed with us for two weeks when he was thirteen. Tony took the jet and left in the middle of the night one night and by the next morning there was a kid living with us.” She sighed, sniffling a little as she recalled the memory. May couldn’t help but steal glances at the boy with her son as her friend spoke. “He said there was an emergency with their family. Abbie was staying with her best friend’s family, but Harley...he didn’t really have any friends. He called Tony in the middle of the night from a social worker’s office crying and saying he had no one else to call.” May noticed a few tears hit the countertop in front of the other woman. Pepper simply continued to arrange the rolls in a basket as if nothing was wrong. “He’s a good kid, he always has been.”

May reached over and squeezed her friend’s hand, giving her a reassuring smile. 

“I can’t even begin to thank you both enough for everything you’ve done,” May gushed, grabbing a tissue from across the counter for Pepper to awkwardly dry her eyes. “You and Tony helped bring that boy into Peter’s life and with everything that happened with Homecoming last year...he really needed someone like Harley.”

“They really are quite a pair, aren’t they?”

They both looked up from the food they were preparing to see Abbie on Peter’s shoulders with the two of them chasing Harley in circles around their living room. 

“Yeah,” May sighed happily, savoring the smile on her nephew’s face. “A match made in heaven, I guess.”

“Something like that,” Pepper teased just as Peter and Abbie came tumbling onto the sofa, effectively trapping Harley underneath them in a pile of laughter. “Boys, can you collect everyone? Dinner’s almost ready.”

Reluctantly, Harley and Peter both left Abbie to help Pepper, May, and a previously-sleeping Happy with the rest of the food and hopped in the elevator to head down to the lab. 

They stood side by side facing the door, the way they always did, just making the other aware of their presence. 

“I like that sweater on you,” Harley mumbled, breaking their tradition of always riding together in silence. “The beige brings out your eyes.”

With that, Peter couldn’t help but look over at his boyfriend, who was already smiling down at him with a twinkle in his eye. 

“You’re such a sap, Keener, you know that?” Peter smirked, his cheeks turning pink. 

“What, you expect me to not notice or somethin’? It’s not my fault I have a hot boyfriend,” Harley countered, earning a snort from Peter at the last comment. “Besides, it’s cute when you get all flustered.”

Peter groaned into his hands, making Harley laugh wholeheartedly as he wrapped an arm around the smaller boy, pulling him close enough to kiss the top of his head. 

“Fuck you, Harley Keener,” Peter grumbled without a hint of anger, a giant smile on his face. “Fuck you and your lack of social anxiety and your hot southern accent and your general flirty personality.”

Harley leaned against Peter’s torso, his arms wrapped around the boy’s shoulders and his chin resting on the other’s shoulder. 

“You love me,” he mumbled softly into Peter’s ear, rekindling their earlier conversation. 

“Regretfully, I do a lot,” Peter retorted before the doors opened and he grabbed Harley’s hand, dragging him down the hallway towards the lab where Tony and Rhodey were working. 

For once in a  long time , Harley Keener was rendered utterly speechless. 

———

“Mr. Stark!” Peter called out, still laughing a little as the two boys burst into the lab room. The man in question jumped a little and Rhodey, who was actually facing the door and saw them coming, raised his safety goggles to show an outline of what looked like bright orange paint all over his face. Tony, when he turned around, somehow looked worse. 

“Jesus, Tony,” Harley chuckled, one arm finding its way around Peter’s waist. “You’ve got a little somethin’.” He gestured with his whole hand over his entire face, to which the man rolled his eyes and called for DUM-E to bring him a towel. Once the two men had thoroughly rid their faces of whatever orange powder had decimated their workspace, they excitedly ran into the elevator at the realization that a fully home-cooked Thanksgiving dinner was awaiting them upstairs. FRIDAY took the four up to the penthouse suite to meet the girls and Happy, who didn’t seem phased by the two men being covered in random chemicals in the slightest. 

Per May’s one request, she sat on Peter’s left with Tony to his right, leaving the seat directly across the table as the closest seat Harley could get to his boyfriend. Which, once they all sat down to eat, ended up probably being better than sitting beside him, seeing as he could stare at Peter’s beautiful face all afternoon without even having to turn his head. 

“I know usually people do this before they all start eating,” Pepper spoke up across the table after she tapped her knife on her glass, catching everyone’s attention away from their food. “But I always had a tradition growing up that I’ve made Tony and everyone else follow as well every Thanksgiving. Every year, for everyone who feels comfortable doing so, we will go around the table and share something that happened this year that we’re thankful for. It’s no pressure, it can be anything big or small, but I’ll start if you all don’t mind.”

She was met with unanimous agreement and she smiled, standing up from her seat for a moment. 

“I’m thankful that we were able to donate nearly forty percent of all Stark Industries profit from this year to various charities across the world. I’m thankful that my family is happy and safe and together, and I’m thankful that I’m engaged to the most amazing man I’ve ever met,” Pepper toasted with the poise and grace of a woman running the most successful company in the world, but with the joy and love of someone who would give it all up in a heartbeat just to be with her family. The look she gave Tony as she spoke was one that would put all of the drama tabloids to shame that tried to say she was only in it for the money. No one would ever love Tony Stark more than Pepper Potts. 

And so the man himself stood up to go next, clearly putting on a front of unpreparedness, despite the fact that he couldn’t go a day without thinking about the things that made up his answer. 

“I’m thankful that the family I always wanted just keeps getting bigger and bigger. And the I somehow scored the greatest woman who has ever walked the Earth. Or the galaxy. Or any galaxy really-“ Tony was cut off by Pepper kissing him and pulling him back into his seat, mumbling something not even Peter could hear from right beside the couple. 

The boy rose hesitantly, a redness to his cheeks that was not lost on anyone. 

“Hi,” he started, mindlessly picking at the sleeve of his fraying sweater. His eyes met Harley’s and he couldn’t help but smile. “Not to copy Mr. Stark or anything, but I’ve never really had a family like this before, especially not after my uncle Ben, but I’m so thankful that all of you have allowed me to be a part of your lives. I couldn’t even ask for better human beings to exist, let alone to call my family.”

The process continued as May admitted she was thankful that there were people looking out for her nephew when she couldn’t, Happy explaining that he was thankful that Tony had trusted him to keep the most important things in his life safe, and Abbie announcing she was thankful that her brother was trying so hard to make her happy and to give her a better life. 

Harley looked more nervous than Peter had ever seen him when he stood up to speak, not meeting anyone’s eyes as he shoved his hands in his pockets. 

“I don’t even know where to start,” he admitted, rubbing the back of his neck as Rhodey patted his back supportively. “I’m so thankful for everything all of you have done for Abbie and I. I haven’t had a real Thanksgiving since I was five and I’ve been trying to make it work for Abbie all these years, but nothin’ beats the real thing.” He laughed nervously, sniffling slightly and Peter watched a single tear roll off his cheek and land on the table. He wanted so badly to wrap his boyfriend up in his arms and never left him go. 

“You all have shown us more love in five days than I’ve had my whole life and I can’t even begin to explain how thankful I am for that,” he choked out, Abbie grabbing onto his hand beside him. “And Peter...” he spoke, barely a whisper. “I’m so thankful to be able to love you. You’re the best person I’ve ever met in my entire life and I could die happy right now just knowing that I had the chance to meet you.”

It took everything Peter had not to burst into tears right there in his seat. The more Harley spoke, the more he could feel May’s hand around his own tightening, before it let go just as the boy finished his speech and Peter took that as his cue to round the table. 

Harley seemed to melt the moment their bodies met and Peter could feel the taller boy burying his face in his hair, his fists balling up the back of his sweater. 

“You’re okay,” Peter spoke softly so only Harley could hear. “I’ve got you. I love you’.”

Harley crumpled a little at Peter’s last sentiment and it broke the hearts of everyone there. Peter traced his fingers up and down the taller boy’s spine in an attempt to ease him out of what seemed to be a panic attack forming. 

“Hey Pete?” Peter’s head snapped up. Tony was now standing beside the pair, a glass of ice water in one hand as he gently placed the other on Harley’s shoulder, hoping it would help the kid calm down. Peter mumbled his thanks as he took the glass of water, carefully retracting himself from their embrace and attempting to coax Harley into drinking some water. 

He cupped the boy’s face in one hand, trying to get him to stop crying, which seemed to be working as Harley was gripping onto Peter’s wrist like a lifeline. 

Eventually, through careful persuasion, Harley went back to his seat and everyone else resumed the meal. Peter kept his leg securely wrapped around one leg of Harley’s chair and occasionally felt the boy bumping it with his own leg just to make sure he was still there. 

The rest of the meal was a bit awkward, understandably, but as it went on people seemed to relax more and truly enjoy each other’s company, including Harley. 

Loud laughter could be heard from many floors below, not that anyone was working in the tower on the holiday, but for any reporter who ever thought those who lived at and frequented Stark Tower were miserable, money-hungry people had never come close enough to hear the laughter of an eccentric billionaire and his fiancé with his college best friend and his personal driver. Those who cared enough to take a closer look would see a young nurse and her secret superhero nephew, who, for one short week were joined by the boy’s long-distance boyfriend and his little sister. 

Families were a goddamn mess and everyone there that day knew better than anyone how not all families were good, but theirs was special. Theirs was home. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope y’all liked this!! harley only has two more days left in new york and then shit is gonna hit the fannnnn
> 
> please leave some love in the kudos and comments because I’m gonna be awol for a while and it would be a really nice surprise to come back to:)
> 
> love y’all


	17. lazy sunday / last day

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> little bit of a short chapter, but i have the next two chapters already written so it won't be long before the next update;)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> give me pepper and may being brunch buddies or give me death

“Hey kid,” Tony spoke, stepping into Peter’s room. It was past noon and he had expected the boys to run off and do something on their last day together, but it had been hours and neither of them had emerged from their rooms, so Tony had the less-than-favorable task of waking them both up. He knocked on the opened door again, staring at the cocooned figure on the bed. “Pete, c’mon, it’s Harley’s last day. Don’t you two want to go out while you still can?”

With still no answer, Tony rolled his eyes, crossing the room towards the bed only to freeze in his tracks a few feet away. He huffed a small laugh, dragging his hand across his face before shaking his head and leaving the room.

When he made it back to the living room, he saw Pepper and May seated together on the sofa, mimosas and two plates of avocado toast on the coffee table in front of them. Tony shamelessly grabbed one of Pepper’s slices and took a bite, mostly ignoring how both women told him off.

“Tony, where are the boys? I thought you were going to ask them if they wanted to come to the park with us,” May asked him, weariness from the previous night’s eighteen-hour hospital shift. “Abbie’s been waiting since eight o’clock and if they’re not coming we need to know so we can leave.”

Tony chuckled, stealing another bite of toast before Pepper stole it out of his hand.

“Funny story actually,” he mused heading for the kitchen to make himself another cup of coffee. “You should just go take a look in Pete’s room if you want to know why I didn’t wake them up.”

Both women stared at him exhaustedly for a moment before picking themselves up off the couch and heading down the hallway. May didn’t hesitate like Pepper did before she entered her nephew’s room, but she had almost the same reaction that Tony did when she saw them.

“What? Is he okay?” Pepper asked as May waved for her to come over faster. She stopped beside her friend and her hand flew to her chest, cooing quietly at the sight of the two boys intertwined in bed. “FRIDAY?”

“Pictures already saved, Ms. Potts,” the AI answered and Pepper smiled to the ceiling.

“I’m definitely going to need those,” May laughed, both women leaving the boys to sleep a bit longer.

* * *

It was only about half an hour past noon when the boys both finally woke up. The curtains were still closed and for a few blissful minutes, there was no way to tell that they had slept through the first few hours of their last day together.

Peter awoke first, his head gently pillowed on Harley’s chest as he blinked himself awake, staring at the boy beside him. He raised one hand, the one that wasn’t trapped under Harley’s back, and gently traced the sleeping boy’s face. His hands carefully cupped Harley’s cheek and he leaned close enough to kiss his boyfriend, slowly until he felt Harley kissing back.

“Mornin’,” Harley spoke groggily as they pulled apart, Peter folding his arms on Harley’s chest and resting his chin on his hands.

“Afternoon, actually,” Peter chuckled, glancing over at the clock on his nightstand. Harley followed his gaze before he caught sight of the time on the alarm clock and groaned pressing Peter’s pillow into his face. He grumbled something usually unintelligible through the pillow, but with Peter’s enhanced hearing, he picked it up with no problem.

But Harley couldn’t know that, of course.

“What?” He laughed, “trying” to take the pillow from the other boy.

“I said,” Harley sighed, sitting up with his back to the wall and Peter’s head falling into his lap. “I was having a dream about having to leave you behind, which is more like a nightmare now that I think about it.” Peter laughed, albeit sadly, as Harley began to weave his fingers through the other boy’s hair. “I’m a little mad that it wasn’t just a dream.”

“Yeah,” Peter agreed, leaning into Harley’s hand on his head. “I could probably hide you in my closet for another week or so before they noticed.”

Harley snorted and Peter couldn’t help but think about how much he would miss the beautiful sound of his laughter.

“I think it’s too late to go back in the closet babe,” Harley teased, to which Peter rolled his eyes in fake annoyance.

“Fuck you, you know know what I mean,” Peter defended with a short laugh, a sad smile painting his face. “I’d go back in the closet forever if I got to keep you with me.”

Harley matched Peter’s expression at those words, bending down to kiss his boyfriend, their mouths meeting at an almost perpendicular angle, but still perfect nonetheless.

“Peter, there’s hardly a thing I wouldn’t do if it meant I never had to leave you, but I promise I’ll be back as soon as I can be,” he whispered softly, their foreheads pressed together. “Abbie’s got school and her friends and I can’t just leave her alone. I’m workin’ on getting guardianship, but that shit takes forever and I’m not really willing to wait that long.”

Peter quickly kissed him again, barely more than a peck before mumbling against Harley’s lips. “Then promise me you’ll stay one day. Maybe in a year, maybe five, but one day.”

Harley didn’t answer and instead, he climbed out of the bed, bent down on one knee, and grabbed Peter by the ankle, pulling him close enough for his legs to hang over the edge of the bed.

“Peter Parker,” he started, a look in his eyes that said he wasn’t taking this seriously, but a smile on his face that said he’d never spoken truer words in his life. “I promise you that someday, maybe tomorrow, maybe when we’re eighty, I will be able to say with absolute certainty that I will never leave your side ever again.”

Peter didn’t even hesitate to dive into his arms, tackling his boyfriend onto the ground in a fit of laughter and kisses.

They’d only known each other a couple of months.

They’d only been together less than a week.

There was always a chance they’d never see each other again, but they didn’t care one bit.

See, when you don’t have much in your life to hold onto, you hold onto what you do have with all the strength you’ve got.

And that’s precisely what they were going to do.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hope y'all liked this! I just got home from guatemala yesterday and i'm so tired lol but i have the next two chapters written and the next one is DEFINITELY a bit of an emotional rollercoaster lol so stay tuned for that update tomorrow!
> 
> if you did like this, please comment and give kudos! we're nearing the end of this story (at least until i write a sequel, that is) so the end is in sight!! if you have any theories or guesses as to what the big plot twist/reveal is going to be at the end, please let me know!! i've been hinting at it for a little while and i'm curious to see if anyone guesses it;)


	18. across the water / i cross my heart

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> emotional rollercoasters + real rollercoasters = soft hurt/comfort content! ! !

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hell yeah babeyyy we're getting into heavy angst territory soon!!!
> 
> i'm so excited to essentially just slap y'all in the face with the finale chapter shdfjksl but for now, we're gonna let them comfort each other and be soft

“You’re sure you want to pick where we go? I mean, I do live here,” Peter teased as he walked hand in hand through Queens with his soon-to-be long-distance boyfriend.

Harley scoffed from beside him, checking his phone for directions every few blocks. It was almost two o’clock and it was about as warm as the weather was going to get, but he was used to midwestern winds so he had his leather jacket on beside Peter, who was wearing a thin t-shirt and jeans.

“What, you don’t trust me?” He joked, knowing full-well what Peter’s answer would be.

“Yeah I do, duh, but when it comes to navigating a city you’re in for the first time, I think it might be best to just tell me where we’re going so I can make sure we don’t get lost,” Peter continued as they neared the beach. He paused for a moment after they crossed the street towards the sand and he looked like a kid in a candy store. “The beach? Harley, it’s November-“

“As much as I would love to go swimming with you,” he corrected, grabbing both of Peter’s shoulders and turning his gaze towards the pier. “I thought this might be more seasonally appropriate.”

Peter practically flung himself at Harley, the taller boy spinning him around a little bit before setting him down on the busy sidewalk, the people around them giving a wide variety of judgmental looks.

“You’re literally my new favorite person in the whole world,” Peter gushed excitedly, practically bouncing up and down with excitement.

“I wasn’t already?” Harley teased, feigning offense.

“Nope, this was the requirement. But now you’ve met all my standards,” he spoke seriously, the two boys speed-walking towards the Coney Island ticket booth.

“Do I get to know what the other requirements were?”

“Not unless you stop doing one.”

Harley slipped a few bills from his pocket over the counter before Peter had enough time to open his wallet, earning a glare.

“And how exactly am I supposed to know if I’ve stopped doing one?”

Peter squinted.

Harley flashed a sly grin that made Peter’s knees weak underneath his façade.

“You’ll know.”

Harley couldn’t help but laugh as he let Peter grab his hand and drag him down the pier.

After a very healthy late lunch of a shared funnel cake and two barely-fruit smoothies, Harley practically begged to go on some rides together. They agreed to hit the Ferris wheel first.

Armed with a wand of cotton candy and giddy smiles on their faces, they boarded the ride, Peter secretly slipping the ride operator a five-dollar bill to make their car stop at the top for a few minutes.

When the wheel ultimately did come to a stop, Peter wasted no time snapping a picture of Harley with the shining sun behind him, his lips stained pink from the cotton candy.

“Ew, gross,” Harley teased, blushing as he realized Peter had taken a photo of him. “People are gonna think you have a crush on me or something.”

The sunlight twinkled in his bright blue eyes as Peter watched him laugh, savoring the sound deep in his soul.

“Is there anything I can say to make you stay?” He blurted the words out faster than he could process them. Harley blinked at him a few times. “I-I mean, we could make it work. You could stay with me and May, or I’m sure Tony wouldn’t mind letting you stay. Or we could get an apartment! Just the two of us in a shitty one-bedroom in the Bronx or-“

“Peter,” Harley spoke softly leaning in close enough for their breath to mingle. “I’d give anything if it meant I could stay, but you and I both know I can’t.”

Peter nodded, trying to hold back the tears brewing in his eyes. “I just...I’m terrified that letting you go this once might mean letting you go _forever_ and I can’t do that. I can’t let you get on that plane and not come home because I need you here, I need you _home_.”

Harley said nothing for a few moments before reaching into his pocket and digging something out.

“I know you said no more presents,” he started, a small laugh coming from both boys as Peter curled himself into Harley’s side, his head on his shoulder. “But Abbie found this place that made custom jewelry when we went sightseeing on Wednesday and I couldn’t help myself.” Harley’s face was beet red as he pulled out a small chain, running it through his fingers as he found the metal bar in the middle and flipped it over so Peter could see. “Seven hundred and twenty-six point four.”

Peter gave him a confused look.

“That’s the exact number of miles from Rose Hill, Tennessee to Queens, New York,” he explained, tracing the numbers with his finger. “And that,” he pointed to the letter T with a dash after it. “Means we have T-minus seven hundred and twenty-six point four miles to go before I can see you again.”

Peter sat up from his shoulder, his forehead immediately moving to rest on Harley’s.

“I love you seven hundred and twenty-six point four miles.”

Harley snorted.

“Dork.”

“And I’ll love you however far it is to go the long way around the globe.”

“About twenty-four thousand, one hundred and seventy-five miles.”

“Oh, really? Who’s the dork now, Keener?”

The ride jerked back to life and they began to move towards the ground again, but they hardly even noticed as Harley clasped the necklace around Peter’s neck and kissed his collarbone where it rested.

Harley dragged Peter onto just about every ride at the pier until sunset, being an absolute roller coaster fanatic and explaining that the main thing that had sparked his love for robotics was his childhood dream to design an amusement park and build all the rides. Peter thought that was adorable and made Harley explain every ride idea he remembered as they dined on more fair food and screamed their lungs out on ride after ride.

By the time the sun was setting, they had exhausted every ride that Coney Island had to offer and tried just about every fried food imaginable. Peter was freezing, which was ironic that he hardly seemed to know his own city’s weather, but Harley shrugged off his jacket and passed it over to him in a heartbeat.

“You wanna’ sit on the beach for a bit? It’s gettin’ late but I’m selfish and I haven’t been to a beach since I was five,” Harley suggested as they walked down the pier.

“You haven’t been to a beach in over a decade?” Peter asked incredulously.

“Tennessee, remember? Not exactly any oceans out in the middle of the country,” Harley continued, staring at the ocean with a look of childlike wonder that Peter adored on him. “They’ve got some fake beaches, though. Like where the town takes a lake and covers the shore in regular sand for the kids during the summer and stuff.”

As they walked barefoot along the sand towards the water, neither of them said anything, but they held each other’s hand, their respective shoes in the other.

“It definitely doesn’t come close to the real thing,” Harley finished when they reached the shore a few minutes later. The waves lapped at their feet and Peter turned to wrap his arms around Harley’s torso from behind, burying his face in the boy’s back.

“I’m so tired but I don’t want to leave because if we leave it means the day is really over,” Peter mumbled between Harley’s shoulder blades, his voice sending a chill down the latter’s spine. “I bet we could make it to Long Island by tomorrow morning if we started swimming right now.”

Harley chuckled, wrapping his own arms around Peter’s.

“Yeah, and we could probably make it home by ten if we started running right now.”

Peter’s arms tightened.

“They’d get over it eventually if we left.”

Harley laced his fingers with Peter’s.

“You know they wouldn’t.”

Peter exhaled shakily, neither taking their eyes off the waves.

“We’d never have to find out if we just left.”

Harley turned around, wrapping his arms around Peter’s shoulders.

“You’d never forgive yourself if you didn’t say goodbye.”

Peter sniffled into Harley’s shirt.

“I’d be okay eventually as long as I had you.”

Harley reused his chin on the crown of Peter’s head.

“You see the ocean, right?”

Peter nodded.

“Okay, well I see it too, which means it must be exactly like what it looks like. But here’s the thing about running away together,” he paused. “I would be able to see you as much as I wanted, but May wouldn’t. That means I get to know you’re safe and happy, and she doesn’t.” He could feel Peter holding on tighter. “And I don’t know about you and May, but I’d never want to abandon Abbie like that. I love you like I’ve never loved anybody or anything before, but I’m not leaving her like that.”

“Yeah,” Peter agreed meekly, his voice small and muffled into Harley’s chest. “But if I can’t see you, how do I know you’re okay?”

And Harley just had to laugh a little bit. He laughed and smiled and he started to spin until he gained enough momentum to grab Peter by the waist and lift him up into his arms, the smaller boy’s legs instinctively wrapping around his torso.

Peter did not look very amused at his boyfriend seemingly laughing at him as he rubbed at his red-rimmed eyes.

“I love you,” Harley whispered, his arms gripping Peter’s sides. “And I don’t think I could go more than a day without seeing your face after this, so every time I can, I’m going to call you and Skype you and everything else under the sun until I can see you again for real.”

Peter smiled sadly and bent down to rest his head on Harley’s shoulder.

“We’re gonna’ be okay,” he spoke, barely louder than a slight mumble.

Harley chuckled a little as he passed Peter their shoes to carry and began to walk back towards the street, and towards their home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hope y'all liked this;) i actually looked up how far all of these distances are so if y'all are looking for a road trip, hmu
> 
> if you're excited for the next chapter, pls comment and give kudos!! i love hearing what you guys are thinking about this fic!
> 
> (also i'm thinking there will be about three more chapters of this fic so we're almost there!! one more chapter before a long one where harley actually leaves and then a roughly 6-month time jump)


	19. don't take my sunshine away / an invitation to stay

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> the longest one yet!! also maybe the saddest so far
> 
> it's harley and abbie's last day in new york and it's time to say goodbye...except that peter isn't the only one that isn't ready to let go

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this was originally going to end like halfway through where it did, but i wanted the next chapter to just be one long scene so this baby is like 2.5K words long woot woot
> 
> also i actually tried more than usual to make harley and abbie's southern accents come through in the writing so hopefully that actually worked lol

When Pepper woke up early on Sunday morning for her meeting with the entire international division of Stark Industries, she hardly expected anyone else to be awake.

Tony was always a wild card whether he’d fall asleep at four in the afternoon or four in the morning, but she distinctly recalled feeling her fiancé slide into bed beside her the night before and there was no way the noise coming from down the hall was from him.

May was working an overnight shift so it definitely wasn’t coming from her guest room.

She wondered if maybe it was Abbie or one of the boys having a nightmare, but as she walked down the hallway, she quickly realized that it wasn’t talking she was hearing.

It was _singing_.

Tony was an avid singer. Not a good one, but he sure sang.

She wasn’t sure she’d ever heard anyone else in the tower sing before that moment.

As she crept further down the hallway, removing her heels for a more silent approach, she knew it was coming from Harley’s room within moments of nearing it. Harley’s room, which had basically also become Peter’s as the week progressed, was the last one in the hallway before the living room and the sound of quiet singing was enough for her to know it wasn’t someone trying to wake everyone up and it certainly wasn’t one of her boys doing something meant to be heard by anyone else.

She headed for the kitchen, brewing a kettle to make some tea before her meeting when she had an idea.

“FRIDAY?” She asked in a soft whisper.

“Yes, Ms. Potts,” the AI replied in an equally-muted tone.

“Could you show me a video feed of Harley’s room? I just want to make sure that’s not just music he left playing last night or something,” she requested and just like that, a holographic screen appeared above the kitchen island showing her the view of Harley’s bedroom from the security system on the wall beside the door.

It nearly brought tears to her eyes just watching it. The sound that she couldn’t help moving closer to only made it sweeter as the AI moved the screen to appear on the wall in front of her as she sat down outside the boys’ room.

Harley sat on the bed cross-legged and in his pajamas, the guitar that Tony usually keeps in storage for when Pepper’s struggling-musician nephew comes over resting in his lap as he quietly picked the strings.

Peter sat behind him in flannel pants and a hoodie of Harley’s, his arms wrapped around his boyfriend’s waist and his head pillowed on the other’s shoulder.

Nothing chilled her more than when she could finally make out Harley’s voice quietly singing along.

_“You are my sunshine, my only sunshine._

_You make me happy, when skies are gray._

_You’ll never know dear, how much I love you.”_

She held her breath as Harley paused, turning to look at Peter and kissing him softly before leaning their foreheads together.

_“Please don’t take my sunshine away.”_

There were chills running all down her body as she picked herself up off the floor and dusted off her trousers. She collected her cup of tea from the kitchen and decided right then to leave a bit early for the meeting rather than risk tears by continuing to listen. She’d never forgive herself if she interrupted such a private moment, but it was so beautiful to witness that she asked FRIDAY to save the footage to show to May when they both returned home later that evening.

She pulled out her phone and sent one quick text to both Tony and May.

_We can’t split them up._

* * *

“Tony, I don’t know what else to say, but you didn’t _see them!”_ Pepper defended, practically pleading with her fiancé to help her figure out a way to not have to separate Peter and Harley later that afternoon. “They need each other.”

Tony sighed, dragging his hands down his tired face. “They need to be home, living a normal life, Pep. What’s Abbie going to do, huh? Just abandon all her friends and her school because her brother wants to stay with his boyfriend?”

She rolled her eyes.

“A normal life? Like _hell_ , they’re living a normal life! They’ve been their own parents for _years_ and the only things their real parents have ever done is just take away every last opportunity they could ever have! They took their savings and blew their bank accounts out in a single weekend!” Pepper cried, letting her emotions get the better of her for once. She knew how to handle these sorts of things. She was good at keeping her cool, even when the subject was something that tore her apart inside. It was just something about these kids that they brought into their lives that made her lose her usual composure. “These kids have lost _everything_. I don’t know about you, Tony, but I can’t in good conscience take away the one thing that’s made them feel safe and loved.”

Tony reluctantly nodded.

“Harley lived with us for two weeks and I never once saw him smile until Peter stepped out of that elevator,” Pepper spoke softly, grabbing one of Tony’s hands and pressing it to her chest. “These kids deserve a family. A _real_ family.”

Tony nodded, biting his lip before dragging his hands down his face. He knew she was right. Hell, he’d go tell Harley and Abbie right then that they could stay as long as they wanted, but he knew he couldn’t give them any false hope. Legalities were a pain in the ass and he knew deep down that uprooting them both from the town they’d lived in their whole lives would do about as much harm as it would do good. Abbie had friends she’d undoubtedly miss, Harley had a job that he loved. He couldn’t in good conscience do that.

“I’ll talk to the kids. I don’t want to do anything without making sure they even want this,” Tony decided, Pepper kissing his cheek with a whispered ‘thank you’ as he headed for the guest rooms.

He went to Abbie’s first, expecting her to be the lynchpin in their plan anyway, seeing as Harley didn’t appear to have any desire to ever leave New York.

When he entered the girl’s guest room, she was laying on the bed, headphones in her ears as she doodled on a sketchpad in front of her.

“Hey, kiddo,” he started, sitting down on the side of the bed so that he could see what she was drawing. There was a horse, a surprisingly well-drawn one at that, with a girl riding it and jumping over some sort of hurdle, a greyscale countryside in the background. He bit his lip and tried not to let it deter him.

“Hi,” she answered, smiling before turning back to her drawing.

“I didn’t know you liked horseback riding,”

Tony chided, watching as she carefully shaded the drawing. “You know, I had an uncle that was a jockey in college. It’s not the same but close enough for me to know a few things about horses.”

Abbie snorted, continuing to draw, but more relaxed than when he had first come in. “Hey Tony?” She asked, putting down her pencil and sitting upright to face him. He hummed in response. “How did you know you liked boys _and_ girls?”

He choked on awkward laughter, not expecting the serious question.

“Wow, okay, I thought we were talking about horses,” he joked, regretting it when he saw Abbie shrink in on herself. “Wait, wait, okay nevermind. I guess...college? That was the first time I actually _understood_ it, but looking back on it, I’ve had crushes on guys my whole life.”

Abbie nodded, turning back to her drawing.

“There was this girl at the last horseback riding tournament I went to,” she spoke shyly. “I’ve never... _liked girls_ like that before, but she was really pretty. Like _really_ pretty.”

Tony chuckled, ruffling the girl’s blonde hair.

“And at first I was so annoyed when Harley first started ranting to me about all the letters he got from Peter and when they met, it was like _so_ gross,” she laughed, Tony joining in with her. “But I think deep down I was just jealous and now I’m never going to see that girl again.”

“Don’t say that, I’m sure you could find her again as long as you keep going to showcases like that, maybe you’ll see her again,” Tony assures her, kicking off his shoes and laying down beside her.

“Nope, is totally not going to,” she countered sadly. “She was from Minnesota. Apparently, she’s one of the best there and she got invited to come compete here instead.”

Nope, he was going to fix this. He wasn’t going to let her lose hope.

“I mean, I have some friends in Minnesota. We could take a little trip sometime, just find out when she’s competing again there and I’ll tell Pepper I’m going to go visit our friends. She’ll be none the wiser,” he explained, the mischievous look making his eyes sparkle.

“Really?” She asked excitedly, a giant smile on her face.

Tony chuckled, “Sure thing, kiddo.”

The girl threw her arms around Tony’s neck and hugged him tightly, the man reciprocating the gesture instantly. “Hey, I’ve got a weird question for you too.”

Abbie pulled back, her attention going to the question on the inventor’s mind.

“How would you feel about staying in New York with me and Pep?”

Abbie froze, an unreadable expression on her face. She didn’t speak for longer than Tony expected.

“Me _and_ Harley, right?” She asked, a nervous glint in her eyes.

Tony chuckled. “Of course. We’d have to work out all the legal details, probably get Child Protective Services involved, and figure out how to get the schools sorted, but we just want you to be happy. Your whole life is in Rose Hill and if you don’t want to go, I don’t blame you, but just know you always have a home here if you change your mind.”

“Yes!” Abbie squealed, hugging Tony once again. “That would be amazing! Yes, I would love to!”

They pulled apart and Tony couldn’t help but smile.

“I have to talk to your brother about it too because I’m not suing your parents for custody and moving you across the country if you’re not both totally on board,” he finished, heading out of the room and over to Harley’s guest room.

Before he stepped in that room, he would’ve bet his entire life that Harley would jump at the chance to stay in New York without a moment of hesitation. He would’ve sworn on behalf of his entire career, fortune, and fame that Harley would call him a saint for keeping him and Peter together.

Thankfully, he never shared his confidence with anyone else before he asked.

“I can’t,” Harley choked out, a pang of pained guilt in his eyes that Tony could identify with ease. “I can’t go.”

Tony couldn’t even try to mask his surprise.

“I’m real sorry, Tony, it’s just-the trial, and the emancipation, and Abbie’s school, and everything that goes into it-“ he stopped abruptly, pushing his hair out of his face. “I can’t ruin her life just to be selfish.”

“Kid, I already asked her and she was over the moon excited,” Tony explained, Harley still shaking his head at the correction.

“No,” he continued. “I know my sister. She loves Rose Hill, she loves her friends and her teachers. She would be heartbroken to leave all of that behind.”

The look in his eyes told Tony the only thing left that could possibly sway him. The one thing Rhodey told him when he freaked out while shopping for engagement rings for Pepper.

“Harley, you deserve to be happy just as much as she does,” he spoke, a hand on the boy’s shoulder that allowed him to feel the way Harley stiffened at his words. “It’s okay to go after the things that make you happy.”

He looked up at Tony with watering eyes and he and Harley were more alike than he’d ever realized.

“Tony,” he spoke, almost pleading as his voice broke. “Please. I know how to make this family work with just the two of us and as much as I would want to stay here more than anything...I can’t ruin her life so I can live mine. I know my sister, just trust me.”

Tony nodded, squeezing his shoulder once more before turning to leave.

“Wait-“ Harley spoke up, sparking the hope in Tony’s chest that he might do just one thing to be a kid for once and let himself be happy. “Don’t tell Peter I turned it down.” Tony’s face must’ve shown his surprise. “Please, Tony. I love him so much but he won’t understand why I can’t stay and the last thing I want is for him to hate me right before I leave.”

Tony nodded, stepping through the door, “You got it, kiddo. As long as you’re happy, it’s fine with me.” He paused in the doorframe. “You know our doors are always open for you both. No matter what.”

Harley smiled, a real, genuine smile.

“Thanks, Tony.”

* * *

“Take care of my niece in law,” May teased, hugging Harley goodbye as Peter blushed furiously at her words.

“ _May!”_ He screeched, his face bright red.

“I promise,” Harley chuckled, squeezing the woman so tightly and burying his face in her hair. He wasn’t quite sure how to thank May for raising the boy he fell in love with so hard and so fast, but he hoped she could tell at least a little bit.

“Have a safe trip,” she smiled, kissing his forehead in a way that made him sorely miss the way his mother used to greet him every day when he came home from school. “I always thought I’d hate every kid that Peter dated, but I’m really going to miss you, Harley.”

He practically dove back into her arms, wrapping his own around her shoulders and holding her so tightly. He _definitely_ didn’t realize how much he missed how his mom used to love him.

“Take care, sweetheart,” she spoke, allowing for Rhodey to step in and give the kid a hug and a swift goodbye. Abbie was still talking to Pepper, unsurprisingly, and clearly not wanting to say goodbye just yet.

Everyone had unanimously agreed that Peter could take the empty seat in the car to go along with Happy and Tony to the airport where the jet was waiting. They didn’t want to say goodbye in front of everyone, but they also knew that Peter would’ve walked or swung or something to follow them there anyway even if he hadn’t been invited into the car.

“Your sister finally moved on to let May say goodbye to her, but is it bad that I really don’t want you both to go?” Pepper smiled sadly, hugging Harley as she spoke softly into his ear. “Tony told me what you told him about our idea. What you said is exactly what he told me when I suggested it. Seriously, you two are so alike it makes my head spin, but I have to admit you’re right.”

She pulled back, her eyes a bit teary.

“You have a good head on your shoulders, honey,” she continued, her voice still quiet like a teary whisper. “You’ll always have a home here if you want it.”

“That means everything, Ms. Potts,” he gushed, picking up his suitcase off the ground. He looked over at Abbie who appeared beside him with her bag in her hands and tears in her eyes. 

"You kids ready to go?" Happy asked, looking between them both.

Harley huffed a sigh as he looked around the room.

"Yeah, I think we are," he said, smiling sadly as Abbie grabbed his arm and Peter grabbed his free hand.

They were really leaving.

Damn.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> one more chapter left before the epilogue!! that's where shit is going to go WILD
> 
> honestly, both of those chapters are already written because i went back and made this chapter longer than it originally was so i might just get impatient and post them both tomorrow but we shall see
> 
> also the scene where abbie and tony talk about being bi is literally so random but it took me too long so i didn't want to delete it. plus, for those of you who got the hint about where her little crush is from, you might be able to tell who it is;) the horseback riding is totally unrelated though and it's just a random little headcanon i have about abbie
> 
> would you guys want me to just post them both tomorrow? or would you want to hold onto the bittersweet ending a little longer before i ruin it?
> 
> i hope you guys liked this:) i'm excited to finally finish this book and for you guys to reach the end of the first part of this journey with me lol


	20. the end / until we meet again

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I guess this is goodbye.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> peter not wanting to say goodbye to harley is like me not wanting to say goodbye to this fic lol

“You ready?” Tony asked, looking back into the backseat of the car where Harley was seated in the middle seat, Peter and Abbie on each of his respective sides, the latter asleep on her brother’s shoulder. Peter turned his face into the crook of Harley’s neck at the man’s words.

“Never,” Harley mumbled under his breath, turning to press a kiss into Peter’s hair. 

“I know kid, trust me, I don’t blame you,” he continued, a genuine sympathy painting his features. “But it’s like ripping off a bandage. It hurts less if you don’t drag it on too long.”

Harley chuckled, his eyes watering as he met the older man’s gaze. 

“I don’t know how it could ever feel like too long,” he smiled sadly, wrapping his arms around his boyfriend without breaking his gaze away from Tony. “You might need a new metaphor, old man.”

Tony scoffed, rolling his eyes with a loving smile as he climbed out of the car and unpacked the two kids’ luggage from the trunk. Harley took that chance to shake Abbie awake. 

“I know how to drive, you know,” Peter mumbled once the kids were alone in the car. “We could be out of here in no time.”

Harley couldn’t help but laugh as he dipped his head to rest against Peter’s, his eyes still wet with unshed tears. 

“We should help Tony before he breaks his back. His strength isn’t what it used to be, you know,” he teased, changing the subject as he blinked away tears. He knew once he started he’d never stop. 

“You know what happens when we step out of this car, Harles,” Peter whispered, Harley glancing out the window over Peter’s shoulder to see Abbie hugging out a tearful goodbye with Tony. His heart clenched wondering if he had made the right decision in electing to stay in Rose Hill. He couldn’t even imagine what Peter would say if Harley told him about Tony’s offer that he had turned down. 

“And I know what happens if we don’t,” he admitted, his hand gently brushing a stray tear from Peter’s cheek. “It’ll only get harder the longer we wait.”

Peter nodded, biting his lip as more tears started to fall. 

“C’mon sweetheart, let’s get out of this goddamn car so I can hold you for real,” Harley persuaded with troves of false composure, trying so hard to make this easier on Peter by not breaking down. 

Peter reluctantly opened the car door and the two stepped out into the Sunday sun, the autumn wind nipping at the backs of their necks. Harley collected his suitcase from Tony, watching on with a small smile as Abbie said goodbye to Happy, the usually-miserable man looking genuinely sad to see her go as he held her tight and swung her legs off the ground. 

“That plane’s gonna’ take you away from me,” Peter spoke, wrapping his arms around Harley from behind, resting his chin on the taller boy’s shoulder. Harley looked over to see the private jet they had taken to fly to New York all those days ago. It seemed like just yesterday he’d been in awe of the giant city around him, only to fall in love with the people in it rather than the city itself. 

“And before you know it, that plane’s gonna’ bring me back to you,” he corrected, turning in Peter’s arms to face his boyfriend. “And then before you know it, one day it’ll bring me back here for good and you don’t have to be mad at the plane anymore.”

Peter let out a watery laugh, tears spilling down his cheeks without any sign of stopping. Harley was trying so hard not to shatter into a puddle of tears right there at the airport. 

“I love you six hundred and nineteen point four miles and back again, Harley Keener,” he whispered, barely choking out the words. 

“And I love you all seven thousand and eighteen miles the long way ‘round, Peter Parker. Don’t you ever forget it.”

He felt a hand land on his shoulder and he turned to see Tony standing there, his arms open as he laughed a little and let himself fall into them. 

“Sorry to ruin the moment, but I’m really gonna’ miss you, kid,” Tony spoke, his arms tightening. “Take care of your sister and if you ever need anything, you know who to call.”

“Thanks Tony,” he smiled, rolling his eyes as Tony reached up to ruffle his hair. “Don’t forget, we’re connected. You can’t get rid of me this easily.”

The older man laughed and clapped him once on the shoulder, taking his bag and helping Happy load it into the jet. 

“This is it then,” Peter spoke up, looking up at the plane, the redness in his eyes breaking Harley’s heart all over again. “This is goodbye?”

Harley kissed him before he could stop himself. “This is goodbye to that,” he smirked as he watched the blush cover Peter’s cheeks. He kissed them both, the wet tear tracks leaving a salty taste on his lips. “And that.” He kissed Peter’s forehead, cupping the boy’s jaw as he did so. “That.” He grabbed both of Peter’s hands, bringing them close enough so that he could kiss his knuckles. “And that,” he finished, the most love-sick look in his eyes as he made sure to savor each kiss in his mind forever. 

“Harley-“ Peter started, only for the other boy to cut him off. 

“This is not goodbye to me. This is not goodbye to you. This is goodbye to the handful of feet between your room and mine. This is goodbye to getting to hold you and hug you and kiss you until you’re so sick of me that you call Abbie in  so we have to keep it PG,” Peter laughed tears not marring the bright smile that lit up his face. “But it’s hello to six hundred and nineteen point four miles between us and I really can’t wait to say goodbye to that already.”

“I don’t want to say that I’m going to miss you because I honestly won’t. I don’t even know what I’m going to do without you,” Peter spoke, his voice breaking as he gripped Harley’s hands like a vice. “Please, please don’t go.”

“Any time, day or night, you call me and I’ll be there,” Harley whispered. “I will love you from afar, Peter Parker, and I will love you so damn hard you won’t even notice I’m not there.”

“You’ll call me when you land?”

“Of course.”

“Then I guess this is it,” he sighed shakily, still squeezing Harley’s hands. “I have to let you go.”

“You do.”

“But it’s not forever.”

“Darlin’, from now on when you think about where I’m gonna’ be forever, I want you to think about where you’re going to be instead,” Harley spoke, slowly climbing the stairs into the plane. “Because I’m right there with you. Always. You couldn’t even stop me from coming back for you if you tried.”

“I love you so much, Harles.”

“I know.”

The smile that lit up Peter’s face at his Star Wars reference was enough to finally make his tears fall as he let Happy close the door, placing the first foot of distance between him and Peter. The first of probably millions. 

Still, it was enough for him to hold onto Peter’s smile in his mind, trying to slow the tears that started flooding his eyes the moment the doors closed and never stopped. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> we have reached the end!!!  
> I’m at the airport on my way home from detroit as I’m posting this so I might not be able to see y’all’s comments and stuff until I land in a while but I really hope you guys liked this!!  
> I’m super excited to post the epilogue, which might be posted tonight when I get home but I’m not promising anything just in case lol  
> love y’all:)


	21. to the love of my life / to whom it may concern

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> the epilogue you've all been waiting for...sorry in advance
> 
> also in letter format because I gotta bring it full circle;)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> tw in the end notes! (that's right, I wasn't kidding when I said the epilogue gets dark)
> 
> \---
> 
> also, i can't believe this story has finally come to an end! it's been a wild ride writing this story and i continue to be amazed that so many of you liked it so much. i've been writing this for over two months now and this story has been so much fun to work on.
> 
> if you guys are interested, i might add another chapter at the end answering some questions you guys might have, sharing scenes i cut out, or original storyline plans that i didn't end up using! let me know if that's something you guys might want in the comments, as well as leaving anything you'd want me to answer, explain, or talk about!

To the love of my life,

I need you to get your ass back to New York already.

Like that surprise was the cutest thing anyone has ever done in the history of love ever, but one weekend isn’t nearly enough time and I can’t believe it’s only been two months since you were here.

How the hell did we ever go four months without seeing each other???

Seriously, I’m going jogging to Rose Hill if I have to.

Also, I sent a little package with the letter that will hopefully get delivered at the same time as this. When Ned’s pen pal Jack came to visit, we went to this cheesy tourist shop and I found this shirt that I had to get even if it’s the stupidest thing you’ll ever wear. It says ‘My heart is in New York City’ and it made me laugh for like five minutes straight just thinking about you wearing it. Please send me a picture when you get it because I need to get it framed so I can laugh at how cheesy we are whenever I feel like it.

Anyway, we have this stupid field trip next week and I’m really not excited because they split our whole grade up into two groups to go on different days and MJ isn’t in the same group as Ned and I which means she and I can’t play our favorite game of deducing how many ways the modern art pieces could be used as torture devices, which is so much funnier than it sounds, I promise.

Anyway, I’ll call you tonight for dinner since May is working late and we can pretend we’re on a date again because last time that was cute as fuck and I love being cheesy.

Pretend I’m giving you like a hundred thousand kisses because that’s what I really wish I could be doing right now.

Love you forever,

Peter

* * *

To whom it may concern,

I really hope that means you, Peter.

I’ve been calling and texting and emailing and everything under the sun, but I don’t know what else to do.

I saw the news. I saw Tony go up with that ship and not come back. I saw my baby sister turn into ashes as we rode home from school.

I saw the fear in her eyes as she watched the arms she had been using to hold tight to my waist disappear right before her eyes before she could even scream.

I called Tony as soon as I could. I’ve called him every day, Pepper too, but it’s been radio silence. Even May won’t answer.

I’m all alone, Peter.

You’re all I have left and I really, really need you to be alive.

I can’t even explain to you how badly I need you.

I’d give anything in the universe for even just a simple text back.

I haven’t left my room in the three days it’s been since it happened and I don’t know what else to do but cry. I think I’m going to ride to New York. It’s at least a day’s ride, but it’s not like there’s anything left to keep me in Rose Hill anymore. I miss Abbie. I miss Tony. I miss Pepper. I miss May and Happy and Rhodey and I miss _you_ like I haven’t even been living since I last saw you.

When I first met Tony, he told me that that the worst part about the people you love dying is having to live with the fact that you’re still alive. I can’t believe the fucking universe chose me to survive this. I haven’t done shit for the universe and every time I think of someone who deserved to be spared by this shit, they’re the opposite of me. I don’t want to live without Abbie. I don’t even think I could if I wanted to.

I know for a fact that I can’t do this if you’re gone too.

I’m begging you to just let me know you’re okay. I’d give anything just to hear your voice.

Please.

You’re the love of my life, Peter Parker. I don’t want to live in a world without you in it. If I can’t love you for the rest of my life, then I don’t think I want whatever time I’ve got left.

If you’re alive then just know that you’re the only thing left in my life worth living for.

If not.....then I guess I’ll see you soon, baby.

No matter what, I’ll love you forever.

Yours until the end,

Harley

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> if you are uncomfortable reading mentions of major character death (not graphic), references to suicidal thoughts and depression, or other mentions surrounding that general topic, i would recommend not reading, or at least reading with caution.
> 
> \---
> 
> thank you all so much for supporting this story! i can't believe the first book is already over, but i already have the first two chapters of the sequel written and i'm really excited to get working on it!
> 
> much love to everyone who has enjoyed it and shared your support and encouragement with me. i can't wait to hear your thoughts about this chapter and i'm so very sorry in advance, but hopefully some of you will be able to spot all of the hints i dropped in throughout the story regarding the timeline subtly & inexplicably set before infinity war and stuff like that;)
> 
> (also, for those of you who have taken a peek at the playlists mentioned in this story, i've been updating them continuously along the way and for those with a keen eye, the playlist 'for peter' has some songs at the end that coincide with the ending from harley's pov)


	22. surprise! / a bonus chat with the author

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> here’s a little thank you gift for everyone who supported this story along the way:)
> 
> if there are any more questions y’all have, feel free to ask them here and I’ll be sure to answer them!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> feel free to let me know in the comments which of these ideas you guys might want to see as one shots in the future!!

thank you all for so much support on this fic! I’m really excited to start working on the sequel and I will probably wait a little bit to post the first chapter even though it’s already finished that way I don’t get ahead of myself and my schedule. 

but here’s just some extra fun stuff for all of you lovely readers!!

** scrapped storylines: **

  * the epilogue was originally going to be prose and not in letter format. it was going to have harley on the bus with peter and he was going to kiss him goodbye and say ‘I love you’ for the first time before heading into space with harley still not knowing he’s spiderman 
  * the aforementioned ‘I love you’ scene was added into the thanksgiving chapter literally just because I needed to think of more things to fill up harley’s week in new york without making it too much like the avengers dinner scene 
  * while writing the dinner w/ the avengers chapter, I was going to randomly ship may and rhodey together on a complete whim for no reason other than it felt right in the moment and to this day I have no idea why I ever considered it
  * harley and abbie were originally going to come to new york to move in with tony and pepper outright rather than it being suggested at the end. (I scrapped that idea pretty quickly though because I wanted to keep the long-distance pen pals thing going)



**deleted scenes:**

  * (my personal favorite) there was going to be a few chapters after harley left new york, one of which surrounding harley riding all the way to queens on his motorcycle to surprise peter for valentine’s day, which is subtly referenced in peter’s epilogue letter
  * I also wrote another post-ny trip scene where peter goes to rose hill and they get harassed by some of harley’s homophobic classmates and peter gets protective as FUCK (think the harley v. flash scene but with peter and a bunch of southern republicans)
  * another pre-epilogue scene was going to be where the ny gang all went to rose hill to visit because abbie had a big horseback riding competition (that was instead mentioned as having happened in the past) and everyone (and by everyone I mean tony, pep, pete, may, happy, andrhodey because everyone loves abbie) was there and they were gonna run into clint and the rest of the barton family
  * there’s a scene that I barely started before I scrapped it where harley and may have a talk about peter and it was going to happen back when peter was going to be the one to tell harley about spiderman and he was going to flip out and may was gonna talk him down 
  * also in the very beginning peter was going to get a video from harley giving him a tour of rose hill and his teacher was going to show it in their class as an example of a creative way to connect with your pen pal, which was going to result in all the girls in the class asking to switch pen pals with peter because they all thought harley was hot, and peter freaking out at the thought of losing harley
  * and lastly, harley was originally going to give peter a promise ring on the beach, but I thought that was a bit too forward for two 16 year olds who had only been dating for less than a week lmao



**unanswered questions:**

(all of these are totally irrelevant to the plot but it matters to me that y’all know about this)

  * abbie’s horse girl crush is lila barton (which y’all would only know if you, like me whilst prepping for that scene, googled to find out that the barton family farm is in missouri)
  * ned’s pen pal’s name is jack because whenever I think of country boys I think of harley keener and jack kelly from newsies 
  * also it’s randomly mentioned that mj has an ex-gf named kate because I have an irl friend with a huuuge crush on zendaya
  * and mj’s pen pal’s name is jaclyn for literally no reason. like I had to reread it just to figure out what I named her
  * ned and his pen pal jack are cosplaying finn and poe from sw at comic con because my irl long distance friend who lives in oklahoma(close enough to tennessee in my thought process)and I disneybounded as finn and poe for dapper day at disneyland like 3 years ago
  * ^^ also follow me on tumblr if you want to see a pic of that because we also met shane madej from buzzfeed unsolved there and the picture is cute as fuck
  * harley can sew and often fixes his and abbie’s clothes when they can’t afford new ones on harley’s apprentice mechanic salary 
  * all of the songs in both harley’s playlist for peter and peter’s playlist for harley are each character’s music taste and are a combination of songs that reflect the plot and songs that remind them of the one the playlist is for (links in ch. 5)
  * lastly, I came up with the idea for this au because I have a pen pal myself and her name is sirine (we are not dating, also she lives in france and she’s wonderful but straight lol)



**Notes for the Chapter:**

> it’s been a wild ride, folks
> 
> tune in on monday for chapter one of ‘to home you will return’ ;)

**Author's Note:**

> thanks for reading!! i'm really excited about this fic, I have the next few letters/chapters already written so expect a few more updates in the coming days:)
> 
> after endgame, i couldn't stop thinking about this ship, but we're just going to pretend endgame never happened for a while at least. i have no idea how long this is going to be, but i really love this pair so i might just keep it going for a while.
> 
> also, if you guys have any ideas or suggestions of stuff to add into future chapters, feel free to let me know! i always love kudos and comments, but you can also drop me your thoughts on my new tumblr @steviesflowers or my general blog @krustywhore :)


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